The Case of the Missing Bracelet
by Hostfanatic
Summary: It's been said there are two sides to every story. This particular story doesn't have two sides, but it's being told two different ways by both Simon and Jeanette. One is modern-day, and one takes place in the fifties, both talking about SOMETHING that had happened to the chipmunks the week before. The only thing we know for sure? Brittany's favorite bracelet went missing...
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Hostfanatic. I hope you enjoy this story, just something I came up with.**

**The part of the story between border lines is the part that Simon or Jeanette is reading.**

**Enjoy! Reviews, please, I'd really like to know what you think. Even if you think it's horrible, I still would like to know. :)**

"Look out!" Alvin screeched, pressing his helmet tighter to his head. He swerved his skateboard to the side, wincing as he almost hit a pedestrian.

"Alvin, you're going to get us KILLED!" Brittany screamed, clinging to him for dear life. "LET ME OFF OF THIS THING RIGHT NOW!"

Alvin just laughed. "We're fine, Britt!" he insisted. "Dave's got insurance!"

"WHAT?" she shrieked, but he was too busy maneuvering around the sidewalks.

"How on earth did he convince me to let him bring me home?" she groaned, clinging tighter to her boyfriend and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Have a little faith, Britt!" Alvin called, laughing.

"HAVE a LITtle FAITH?" she shrieked. "YOU! ARE! A! CHIPMUNK! YOUR FEET AREN'T EVEN BIG ENOUGH TO TOUCH THE GROUND! YOU ARE STEERING THIS BY _LEANING YOUR BODY!"_

"And doing a fine job of it, too!" he yelled back.

_**"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAURGH!" **_Brittany screamed.

Jeanette pulled her nose out of her book, startled. "What on earth was THAT?" she asked Simon, who was sharing a seat with her on the bus.

"Beats me," he said with a shrug. "Sounded almost like Brittany. Alvin probably convinced her to ride home with him on his skateboard."

They both looked out the window to see a blue skateboard with two tiny forms on it careening up and down the sidewalk. One of them was wearing a pink sparkly helmet and screeching at the top of her lungs.

"Yep," Jeanette sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Thank goodness the fiasco that is last week was taken care of."

"You said it," Simon agreed. He grinned mischievously. "Although it did give me a very good idea for my creative English assignment…"

"Oh, can I read it?" Jeanette asked eagerly. Then she blushed and ducked her head slightly. "That is, if you're…if you're okay with that…"

"Oh, that's fine!" Simon assured her. "But I'd like to wait until everyone's around before I read it. I'll take it out at home."

"Oh." She frowned a little in confusion. "Okay."

They heard Eleanor and Theodore chattering away in the seat behind them, reviewing their assignment in Home Ec.

"Okay, so it looks like we had a cup of sugar, and then we get the butter and—,"

"No, Ellie, see, we have to put in the half-cup of milk first, and THEN the butter."

Eleanor giggled. "Oops, you're right. Okay, so then we get the vanilla extract…"

Jeanette and Simon laughed quietly together.

"We'll have a new dessert by the end of the day," Jeanette sighed.

"End of tomorrow, tops," Simon agreed. "Ellie and Theo always bring us extras."

The bus rumbled to a halt at their stop. Eleanor shoved the cookbook back into her bag, and the four chipmunks hopped off and hurried up the front walk after a screaming Alvin and Brittany. Alvin grinded to a stop just as Simon, Jeanette, Eleanor, and Theodore walked up.

"Hi, guys," Simon said nonchalantly as they headed into the house. Brittany, panting, was clinging to Alvin so hard that he was certain his circulation had been cut off.

"Britt, are you okay?" Jeanette called over her shoulder to her sister.

"Yeah," Brittany squeaked in a voice much higher than normal. "I'm. Totally. Just. Fine."

"Someone get a Texas Twister, please," Theodore called as he examined Brittany's grip on Alvin's arms.

Alvin managed to pry her off, and she stumbled off the skateboard and collapsed in a heap on the driveway. Her hair was sticking out everywhere under her helmet, and her clothes were wrinkled and messy.

Laughing his head off, Alvin plopped down next to her. "Whew! What a ride!" he said cheerfully.

Brittany slowly turned her head in his direction an inch at a time. Jeanette cringed and rushed into the house, knowing her sister was about to explode.

Sure enough, she leapt to her feet and began screaming so loud they heard an echo, "ALVIN SEVILLE, WHAT THE _HECK _WERE YOU _THINKING?"_

Alvin cringed back, scuttling away from her. "Look, Britt, I know that you were—,"

"_WHAT? _I WAS _WHAT?" _she shrieked.

He gulped. "Not…the most pleased…with that experience, but—,"

_"NOT THE MOST PLEASED? YOU ALMOST KILLED ME!"_

"Oh, here we go," Eleanor mumbled.

_"COULDHAVEKILLEDMEIALMOSTDIEDYOUCOULDN'TEVENSTEERT HEDARNEDTHINGIWASN'TTHEONLYLIFETHATWASTHREATENEDBY THATEXPERIENCESOI'MNOTJUSTTHINKINGOFMYSELFHEREYOUA LMOSTKILLEDLIKEFIVEPEOPLE—,"_

"She's going into lecture mode," Eleanor explained.

"Lecture mode?" Theodore questioned.

_"—IDON'TKNOWHOWONEARTHYOUCONVINCEDMETODOTHATBUTYOU _

_SHOULDHAVEKNOWNIWOULDN'TENJOYITICOULDHAVEBEENKILLE DORHURTORSEVERELYINJUREDORICOULDHAVEBROKENANAILAND DOYOUKNOWWHATACATASTROPHE__**THAT**__WOULDHAVEBEEN—,"_

"She just stands and screams nonstop for a while until she thinks she's gotten her point across," Eleanor told him.

_ "—GOTHALFAMINDTOJUSTBREAKUPWITHYOURIGHTTHISINSTANT I_

_DON'TKNOWWHATIWASTHINKINGYOUCOULDHAVEKILLEDUSANDIF THAT'S_

_THEKINDOFRESPONSIBILITYYOU'REGOINGTOBESHOWINGTHENT HISISDONE_

_AND IF YOU EVER DRAG ME INTO ANOTHER SITUATION LIKE THAT AGAIN YOU CAN JUST CONSIDER THIS RELATIONSHIP OVER!"_

She exhaled in a huff, yanked the helmet off her head, and stomped up the front steps while complaining to Eleanor about the state her hair was in.

Alvin watched her go with a little smile on his face.

"She's cute when she's angry," he chuckled.

"Aren't you worried about everything she said? Y'know, breaking up with you and all that?" Theodore asked timidly.

Alvin grinned cockily. "Naw. She'd just come running back to the A-man after two weeks."

Brittany threw her helmet at him as hard as she could, and it bounced off of his head. "Ouch!" he yelled, falling over again.

She slammed the door firmly behind her.

"Something tells me that she isn't going to be riding to school on Alvin's skateboard anymore," Jeanette said thoughtfully as she watched her sister storm out of sight.

"Probably not," Simon agreed with a chuckle. "We'll wait until she's finished blow-drying her fur to perfection, and then I'll read you the story that I wrote."

Jeanette smiled up at him. "I can't wait to hear it," she told him honestly.

Theodore and Eleanor raced to the kitchen instantly to start baking their cookies. They went from cupboard to cupboard, ransacking each one and grabbing the ingredients that they needed.

"Baking cookies, eh?" they heard Alvin ask. "Do you need help stirring the batter?"

They turned to see him holding the electric blender and beaming hopefully at them.

"NO!" everyone screamed at once.

Pouting, Alvin dropped the blender and shuffled out of the room. "You guys never let me have any fun," he sulked.

"You're grounded, remember?" Eleanor reminded him. "I don't think Dave would like it very much under the circumstances if you went off and played with the blender."

Alvin conceded this point but still looked sulky when Brittany walked in again. She had fixed her hair, re-applied her makeup, and changed her clothes. Now her ginger fur was positioned perfectly again.

She glared at Alvin before hopping up on the table with her sister. "Are those cookies?" she exclaimed.

Eleanor grinned at her as she and Theodore slid the tray into the oven together. "Yes, they are, but they're going to be baking for a while."

Brittany pouted and slumped down on the counter again.

Simon walked over holding several typed-out pages. "While we're waiting, does anyone care to hear my story?" he asked hopefully. "It's all about what happened last week…" His eyes sparkled. "With an interesting twist."

They all expressed enthusiasm and curiosity at this idea, scooting in on the counter. Simon spread the pages out.

"Chapter one," he read. "The Mystery."

"Ooh, this is going to be good," Theodore whispered excitedly, hanging onto Eleanor's arm.

Simon cleared his throat and began to read. "It was another baffling case," he said smugly. "But then again, you don't hire a private eye for the easy ones…"

* * *

Simon Seville. Detective. The best one that the police force had ever known.

* * *

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Alvin interrupted. "Excuse me? Is this story going to be all about you and how fabulous you are? Because if it is, then I can leave right now."

Simon glared at him. "Stay put. I'm not finished yet."

"I think Simon would be a great detective," Jeanette chimed in. She smiled at Simon. "He's so smart."

Blushing and clearing his throat again, Simon pushed his glasses up on his nose and continued the story as Brittany and Alvin made gagging noises.

* * *

He sat in his office just twiddling his thumbs. Nothing particularly exciting had happened lately; just another long, boring day.

Little did he know just how interesting things were going to become.

Before he knew what was going on, the door to his office had slammed open. Simon blinked and squinted.

Standing in the doorway was a rather imperious-looking chipette. She had long ginger fur that hung down in intricate curls. She was wearing a strapless pink dress that glittered with sequins, and draped around her neck was a large pink-and-gold feather boa. She wore shiny pink high heels. Above her curls was a large pink hat with an enormous gold feather sticking out of it. Altogether, it looked as though some sort of sparkly, exotic bird of paradise had just come to land in his office.

* * *

"Ooh, that outfit sounds fabulous," Brittany exclaimed. "A little old-fashioned, though…and what does this have to do with last week?"

Simon grinned at her. "I re-wrote the story of last week and set it back in time in the '50's," he explained. "Nice, huh? That's the kind of outfit that they wore back then. The richer folk, anyway."

"Oh, I'm rich," she gasped.

"Wait, how do you know that's you?" Alvin asked.

Everyone stared at him.

"Oh, fine, it's totally you," he griped, crossing his arms across his chest.

* * *

"Simon Seville, detective, I presume?" Her voice was high-pitched and could have been pretty if it weren't so bossy.

* * *

"Hey!" Brittany yelled.

"It's true, Britt," Alvin told her.

"No interruptions, please, guys," Simon said sternly as he continued to read.

* * *

"That depends on who's asking," he responded stiffly. He already knew her type. Rich. Stuffy. Full of herself.

"I've got a case for you," she continued as though she hadn't heard his remark. She sat down with a flourish on the chair in front of his desk, tossing her feather boa over her shoulder and smirking at him.

"Oh, really." His tone was monotonous as he shuffled through some papers.

"Well, are you interested or not?" the chipette snapped.

Simon looked up and stared at her, raising an eyebrow. He was always interested in a case, but there was no need to take that tone.

"Listen up," he said in a low voice. "I don't know who you think you are, but I'd talk nicely if I were you."

She glared at him for a moment, and then flounced back with a huff. "Brittany Miller," she announced as though it were some great honor. He nearly thought that a band would strike up behind her.

However, it caused him to choke a little bit. _"The _Brittany Miller?" he stammered. "Brittany Miller the millionaire?"

"Oh, no," she smiled. "Brittany Miller the billionaire."

He gawked at her in silent astonishment for a moment, and then leaned back. "So what would a fancy-pants like you want anything to do with me?" he asked her skeptically.

She sniffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Women do not wear pants. The very thought."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, that wasn't exactly my point, Miss Miller."

She sighed. "I heard that you were the best detective on the squad, and I need this case to be solved fast before word gets out." She grimaced slightly. "And I figure that you're so low on the popularity food chain that no one will notice it. I just have to make sure that I'm in disguise whenever I…associate with you." She waved one hand elegantly. "I'm sure you understand."

"That's some disguise you've got on," he told her pleasantly. "You're a bird, right?"

She flushed and stood up abruptly. "Are you here to insult me, or are you here to get a case?" she snapped at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "I am here because this is my office. I work here."

She frowned for a moment. "Oh…" Then she smiled triumphantly. "Then why am _I _here?"

"I haven't got the slightest idea," he answered dryly, "but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway."

She drew herself up to her full height.

"I have called," she said imperiously, "because…my bracelet…is missing."

* * *

Theodore frowned. "Wait a minute. THAT'S not what happened."

"Nowhere NEAR what happened," Eleanor agreed.

Simon slapped the pages down on the table in exasperation. "Look, I may have taken a little creative license on it…"

Jeanette coughed a little bit.

He turned to her with a confused expression as she blushed and looked away from him. He noticed, though, something dangling beside her foot…something that she was trying to make sure no one noticed.

"Jeanette, what's in your backpack?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll tell you what's in it," a voice hollered, and then Alvin pulled himself up out of the main pouch with a manuscript in his grasp.

Jeanette was now the color of a tomato. "Alvin! You were snooping in my backpack! Give it to me!" she hissed, lunging for the papers. He easily vaulted out of her backpack and dodged out of his grasp. He hopped up onto the table, displaying the pages.

Brittany squinted at the title. Then she gasped.

"See, Jeanette wrote the real-life story of what happened last week for HER creative English assignment," Alvin said triumphantly.

Simon turned to Jeanette, both eyebrows raised. She was now slumped down low in her chair, covering her face with her hands.

"Well, then," Theodore announced. "Jeanette, you read us YOUR version of what actually happened last week, and then Simon can read us his 'creatively licensed' version, and we can compare and contrast the two."

"And that can be OUR creative English assignment!" Alvin said cheerfully.

"You don't even take that class," Simon pointed out.

Alvin pouted at him. "Don't ruin my fun, Si."

Simon rolled his eyes and turned to Jeanette. "All right, Jeanette, can you read us the first chapter of YOUR story?" he asked her pleasantly.

She flushed a little. "I…I don't…" she stammered.

"I can do it if you don't want to, Jean," Eleanor volunteered cheerfully.

"Ellie, we have to keep our eyes on the cookies and our EARS on the stories," Theodore reminded her.

Jeanette shook her head once, a quick, jerky movement. "No, no, it's fine. I can read it." She flushed darkly, looked over at Simon, and then quickly looked away again.

Grabbing her story from Alvin and shooting him a dark look, Jeanette shuffled the pages, cleared her throat, and began to read.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, there! Hostfanatic is back with the second chapter. I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.**

**I forgot the disclaimer in the first chapter. I don't own Alvin and the chipmunks, or the chipettes, or Dave, or any of that.**

**Thanks! Enjoy!**

Jeanette cleared her throat, shuffled the pages, and began to read.

* * *

It had been another long day at school, and Jeanette wasn't sure if anything was going to get done that night. She loved school, of course, but it had been becoming rather boring as of late. Nothing was quite challenging enough. Home was even worse. Things were dull, monotonous.

"This is sounding a lot like Simon's story," Theodore interrupted. "The whole 'dull and montonus' thing."

"Mon-o-ton-ous," Jeanette corrected. "And yes, it does. I think that was his point."

Little did the chipmunks know that things were about to get exciting; all too exciting.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

The screech was so loud that Jeanette instinctively dropped under her bed and waited for every window in a five-mile radius to shatter. When nothing happened and the scream finally ended, she realized that it belonged to her sister Brittany.

Jeanette leapt to her feet and sprinted down the stairs as fast as she could, which wasn't very fast because she tripped thrice. When she finally stumbled into the kitchen, she had several new bruises already forming.

"What is it? What's the matter?" Jeanette gasped, looking right and left for whatever had slashed, cut, burned, or bruised her sister.

Brittany was staring at her wrist in horror, and Jeanette stumbled over to see what the matter was. It looked fine, though, not hurt in the least.

"My BRACELET IS MISSING!" Brittany screamed, shaking her wrist desperately as though hoping that it would somehow appear.

Jeanette winced, rubbing at my ears. "Okay, could you please stop shouting?" she nearly begged.

Brittany glared at her. "STOP SHOUTING?" she shouted. "STOP?"

Lecture mode, here we come.

"WHODOYOUTHINKYOUARETELLINGMETOSTOPSHOUTINGISTHATR EALLYALLYOU'RECONCERNEDABOUTWHATKINDOFSISTER

_ARE_YOUMYBRACELETISMISSINGTHISISACRISISIAMDEALINGWITHH ERE—,"

"What on earth is going on?" Simon yelled, barging into the kitchen before promptly running into the counter. Jeanette saw that he didn't have his glasses on, and she rushed to assist him.

"Here, let me help," she gasped. She attempted to pull him to his feet, but then she tripped and landed on top of him.

"Oh!" Jeanette gasped, fumbling awkwardly. "Oh, I'm so sorry,

S—,"

"—COULDBEANYWHEREIT'SCLEARLYSTOLENBECAUSEWHO

WOULDN'TSTEALFROMMEANDYOU'REJUSTSITTINGTHEREONTOP

OFSIMONANDNOTDOINGANYTHINGATALLTOHELPMETHISISA

_PROBLEM_HEREJEANETTEANDYOU'REJUSTSITTINGTHERELIKE

NOTHINGISWRONGANDYOUDON'THAVEAFREAKINGCAREINTHEWOR LDSOWHOARE_YOU_TOTELL_ME_TOSTOPSHOUTING—,"

"Are you all right?" Jeanette asked, scrambling off of Simon and pressing herself up against the wall, trying to be as small as possible.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," he answered, his voice stilted and awkward. She nearly wanted to kill herself.

"What the heck is the matter with Brittany?" Alvin yelled, storming in. Theodore and Eleanor were right on his heels.

"—ANDTHENTHEYHAVETHEAUDACITYTOJUSTBARGEIN

HERESTRAIGHTTOMYFACEANDPRETENDTHATNOTHINGIS

WRONGEVERYTHINGISWRONGWHATISTHEMATTERWITHYOU

PEOPLE AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO TELL ME TO STOP SHOUTNIG WHEN MY FAVORITE BRACELET IS MISSING?"

She finally finished with her hands planted on her hips, glaring at each and every one of them.

"So…um…yourbraceletismissing?" Alvin said, imitating her in her lecture mode.

"ALVIN SEVILLE, THIS IS SERIOUS!" she shrieked so loud we all had to duck again in case the windows shattered.

"Okay, okay!" Alvin cried. He took a deep breath, rubbing at his ears. "So…how do you think it happened?"

"Someone stole it," Brittany said with determination. "And I have a pretty good idea who."

* * *

Jeanette stopped reading, blushing furiously and trying to look anywhere but at Simon. He smiled lightly and touched her arm.

"Wow, that wasn't very exciting," Brittany said at last. She glared at Jeanette. "And I did NOT react like THAT. I was a lot more calm…cool…collected…"

"No, you were not," everyone said together. She flushed and glared in silence.

"I agree," Alvin yawned. "That was great writing, Jean, but we haven't gotten to the action parts yet." He waggled his eyebrows. "Except maybe when you fell on Simon…"

"ALVIN!" everyone screamed, and he ducked his head, trying to conceal his grin.

"The cookies still aren't ready," Eleanor interrupted brightly, "so we might as well hear some more of the stories. Simon, you next."

He smiled a little, shuffled the papers, and continued to read.

* * *

**"Your bracelet?" Simon asked skeptically.**

** "Don't look at me in that manner!" she snapped, taken aback. She gathered her feather boa around her and sat a bit straighter in her chair. "Yes, my bracelet. It is a very valuable bracelet, and I need you to get it back for me."**

** "Do you have any clues as to who might have done this?" Simon asked her, raising an eyebrow.**

** "I bet it was Miss Jessica Simpson," Brittany huffed, tossing her hair. "She was lurking around in odd places at my dinner party, and she's always been jealous of my delightful fashion sense."**

** Raising an eyebrow and surveying her outfit, Simon found that hard to believe.**

** Just then the door flew open with a BANG and another chipmunk raced into the room. His fur was styled carefully and he was wearing clothes that were all the rage in the fashion world.**

** "Sorry I'm late, Simon, I—," he gasped, and then he and Brittany turned to lock eyes at the exact same moment.**

** Simon watched them, bored, and began to count seconds. One. Two. Three. Four.**

** They just sat there like that, staring deep into each others' eyes. Simon was up to one minute. Two.**

** Then he coughed a little and they both jerked out of it and whirled around to face him again.**

** "Well," the chipmunk purred, sauntering around to sit next to Simon behind the desk. "Well, well, well, who is **_**this? **_**Did it hurt when you fell from heaven, baby?"**

"Even in the fifties, you're a bad flirt," Brittany sniffed at Alvin.

He winked at her. "But with good taste."

**Brittany let out a little titter, and Simon rolled his eyes. **_**Wake me when my brother is done flirting, **_**he thought to himself grimly.**

** "Alvin," he said aloud, "this is Miss Brittany Miller. She's got a case for us." He gave his brother a look that clearly said **_**STOP FLIRTING. WE'VE GOT TO ACT PROFESSIONAL.**_

_** But she's hot, **_**Alvin silently protested.**

_**Don't care.**_

**"How may we assist you, Miss Miller?" he asked out loud, winking at her when he thought Simon wasn't looking. Simon rolled his eyes in disgust.**

** "As I'm sure I just finished explaining to your colleague here, my bracelet has gone missing," she sniffed. "It's a very valuable bracelet, and I have it on good evidence that it's been stolen."**

** Alvin's eyes widened. "Interesting," he said thoughtfully. "Very interesting."**

** Brittany extended the card in her hand yet again. "You will be in contact with me, of course," she said nonchalantly. "I need to go over details about the party. You should probably bring one police officer with you, too, just in case. Sees how you don't have the authority to arrest anyone or anything." She winked at Alvin, and he laughed as though it were the funniest thing he'd ever heard, even though it wasn't much of a joke.**

** "We will be in touch, Miss Miller," Simon told her, standing up and offering her a bow. "I'd appreciate it, however, if you didn't discuss intimate matters over the phone; not always the safest route."**

** She nodded and then smiled. "I shall see you in a few days, gentlemen."**

** "And I look forward to it," Alvin purred, checking her out.**

** She smiled at him again and then swept out of the room.**

** Alvin flopped back in his chair. "I think I'm in love," he said hoarsely.**

** Simon rolled his eyes and dropped into his chair, too. "Please. You just met the girl. She's petty, shallow, childish, full of herself, and absolutely ridiculous." He paused. "You know what? She's perfect for you. Go for it."**

"Hey!" Alvin and Brittany yelled at the same time.

"It's true, though, we are perfect for each other," Alvin interjected, smiling at Brittany.

She rolled her eyes. "Suck-up, you're just trying to get me to forgive you for the skateboard incident."

Alvin batted his eyelashes. "Is it working, dearest?"

She rolled her eyes again and gave him a little shove.

"Cookies still aren't done yet," Eleanor sighed. "Jeanette, it's your turn."

Jeanette shuffled the pages, moved to the second chapter, and began to read.


	3. Chapter 3

**Heyheyhey!**

**And...I have nothing to say.**

**On to the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Alvin and the Chipmunks, nor do I own the chipettes or Dave.**

Jeanette shuffled the pages, moved to the second chapter, and began to read.

* * *

"I bet it was that Jessica Simpson," Brittany growled. Hours later, she was still on the subject of her lost bracelet. Eleanor and Theodore had given up trying to pay attention to or console her, absorbed instead in Meerkat Manor.

"Britt, I don't think that Jessica took your bracelet," Jeanette said mildly. "I'm sure that it just got lost somewhere. We'll find it tomorrow."

Brittany shook her head firmly. "Not a chance," she insisted. "I distinctly remember wearing it on the bus ride home. When I got home, it was gone. Somebody on the bus stole it. And Jessica is on our bus. Besides, who wouldn't envy this fabulous fashion sense so much that they'd be willing to steal for it?"

Jeanette tried hard to disguise her laughter as coughing, and she did a pretty good job of it. Alvin was just sitting on the armchair, engrossed in her every word.

Brittany huffed again and stomped out of the room to go get her phone and text all her girlfriends about the dilemma. As soon as she was gone, Alvin abruptly lunged across the couch toward Jeanette.

Jeanette scrambled away from him, feeling terrified and astonished.

"Jeanette, I need your help," he gasped.

She blinked. Those were five words she'd never thought would pass through Alvin's lips.

"I think I'm in love with your sister," he said in a throaty voice, swallowing hard.

Jeanette stared at him incredulously. "So…why do you need my help?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"I need you to help me get her to go out with me," he begged her. "You know her better than anyone else! Please, Jean, do this for me!" He collapsed at her feet, sobbing.

"Alvin, you're faking that," she said sternly.

He sat up straight, the tears gone. "Yes, I am. But I can actually cry if you want me to! I'll do anything!" he pleaded.

Jeanette rolled her eyes. "Isn't that a bit melodramatic?"

"You know," Simon spoke up from the chair, "if you really wanted to impress her and win her favor, you could help her get her bracelet back."

Alvin blinked and sat up as though he hadn't thought of that.

"I hadn't thought of that!" he cried, confirming their thoughts. "That's brilliant! Thanks, Si! Thanks, Jean!"

"Glad I could help," Jeanette mumbled, turning her attention back to the television set.

Brittany re-entered the room, typing furiously on her phone.

"Fear not, Brittany!" Alvin announced in a loud voice. "I shall help you get your bracelet back!"

She looked up and grinned at him. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," he confirmed. "I'm going to do it."

She beamed at him. "Alvin, that's wonderful! Thank you so much!"

They stared at one another, and for a second, it seemed as though they were having a moment.

Then a Meerkat on the television screeched loudly, and they both jumped and looked away from each other.

"I…we'll start the investigation tomorrow," Alvin said in a normal tone as though nothing had just happened.

"Good idea," Brittany agreed, hopping up onto the couch next to them. Her face settled into a determined expression. "I'm going to get that bracelet back if it's the last thing I do; it's my favorite one, you know."

* * *

Brittany sighed, remembering. "We did have a moment, didn't we?" she said dreamily to Alvin.

He grinned at her. "Does this mean I'm forgiven?"

"Not a chance."

"All right, Simon, it's your turn," Eleanor told him. "I think we're getting into the action parts here."

Simon nodded in confirmation as he held his manuscript out in front of him to see it more clearly. He cleared his throat and began to read.

**"Are you sure this is the right place?" Alvin sounded awed and doubtful as he stared up at the massive iron gates.**

** "It certainly is," Simon said wryly, double-checking the address on the card. He was in his normal detective suit with his fedora pulled down low over his eyes.**

** Alvin, simply in a T-shirt and jeans, let out a low whistle. "Pretty swanky place," he said, impressed.**

** Simon nodded. "She is a billionaire, after all," he reminded Alvin, ringing the doorbell.**

** "Wait for me, guys!" they heard from behind them. Turning, they saw a little chipmunk in a police uniform come puffing up to them.**

** "Glad you could make it, Officer Theodore," Simon told him, shaking his paw firmly.**

"Hey, that's me!" Theodore cried. "I'm in the story now!"

"I'm not yet," Eleanor sulked.

"You will be soon," Simon assured her, rustling the pages and continuing to read.

**Alvin and Simon had brought Theodore up to date on the facts of the case. Simon rang the doorbell again, and the gates creaked open after a pause.**

** They walked up the front steps and knocked on the door. It opened, and standing there was a short chipmunk with blond hair, sparkling emerald eyes, and a green maid's uniform on.**

** "Welcome, Detective Simon, Detective Alvin, Officer Theodore," she said in a low voice, nodding to each of them. Her eyes lingered on Theodore, and he couldn't take his off of her. He was so astonished that he dropped his doughnut.**

** She giggled a little bit and beckoned them into the house with one hand. "Won't you gentlemen come in?"**

** "Thank you, ma'am," Simon told her, tipping his fedora and entering the house quickly. Alvin followed, half-dragging the awed Theodore.**

** "Miss Brittany is right this way," the maid told them, curtsying slightly and ushering them down the hallway. They stepped into a room that had a grand staircase and a glittering crystal chandelier.**

** Alvin whistled, staring around at all the finery.**

** "Miss Brittany will be with you in a moment," she told them. She gave Alvin and Theodore a significant look before leaving.**

** Frowning and confused at this, Simon took a seat on one of the comfy chairs and looked around, examining his surroundings. Alvin and Theodore did the same.**

** A few short minutes had passed before they heard a door opening and closing and they saw Brittany descending the staircase.**

** She had her fur up in a bun this time with golden barrettes decorating it. She was wearing a magenta gown with a full skirt and silk gloves the color of gold.**

** "Miss Miller," Simon greeted her, rising. Theodore and Alvin did, too.**

** Alvin stepped forward as Brittany elegantly descended. He took her paw and kissed it lightly. "If I may say so, Miss Miller, you look simply ravishing this afternoon," he told her, waggling his eyebrows.**

** She blushed slightly and threw him a flirtatious smile. "Glad you gentlemen could make it," she purred.**

** Simon tried not to gag.**

** She took her seat in a cloud of silk and satin and regarded the men.**

** "Refreshments?" she asked them calmly.**

** "Ooh, yes, please!" Theodore said eagerly.**

** She rolled her eyes but rang a little silver bell on the small table next to her chair. "Refreshments, please," she called, setting it down again.**

** She smiled at them. "They should be along soon. Now, gentlemen, I assume you've received my invitation to the dinner party."**

** "Ye—," Simon began to answer when the door to the kitchen opened and a maid came out.**

** She had messy brown hair that was high up in a ponytail. Her fur was a dark chocolate brown and she was wearing a simple purple skirt and top with an apron over it, carrying a tray with frosted cookies and tea on it. And her eyes…**

** He was instantly captivated, unable to look away. They were enormous and purple, sparkling like amethyst. Both her long, thick eyelashes and her glasses framed them perfectly.**

** Simon gawked in astonishment. She was the most beautiful chipette he had ever seen.**

** She came over and put the tray down on the table. Then she looked up slightly and saw Simon.**

** Her mouth instantly dropped slightly open as she gazed at him, seeming frozen. A light blush colored her face.**

** "Thank you, Jeanette," Brittany told her. "That will be all."**

** Snapping out of it, she nodded and curtsied, hurrying back the way she had come. Simon noted that she tripped three times before finally stumbling through the doors back into the kitchen.**

** "Ah, Jeanette," Brittany sighed. "My most trusted maid and my best friend. She is a bit clumsy, though." She returned her attention to the situation at hand. "So, I assume that you received my invitation to the dinner party?" she asked, repeating her earlier question.**

** Simon didn't answer, just sat frozen, staring at the kitchen doors through which Jeanette had just run through.**

** Brittany frowned. "Simon?"**

** No response.**

** "SIMON!" Alvin yelled, and Simon jumped in his chair. He fumbled for a minute before regaining his composure and saying coolly, "Excuse me. Yes, we received it, and we shall be there as planned."**

** She nodded with satisfaction. "I've come up with a most clever plan, really," she said happily. "I have a false bracelet that looks exactly like the one that was stolen. Everyone knows that it's missing, of course, but I shall present the false one at my dinner party and tell the guests that it is the real one and that the fake one was stolen. Then we can see who tries to steal the fake one, and we can have our thief!"**

** "Brilliant," Theodore exclaimed.**

** "You, Miss Miller, are a genius," Alvin complimented her graciously.**

** Even Simon couldn't help but grudgingly admit that this was a good idea.**

** "So I expect you to come to the dinner party so that we may catch the criminal," she continued. "White tie occasion, so dress in your best. And for goodness' sakes, Simon, please lose that fedora when you get there or people will know you're a detective before you've said a word."**

** She smiled at them.**

** "Will that be all, then?" Alvin asked her, raising an eyebrow and throwing her a flirtatious smirk.**

** She giggled a little and said, "Yes, that's all. I will see you then."**

** All three stood up and bowed to her. Theodore grabbed as many of the cookies off the tray as he could before Brittany ascended the staircase again and the green-clad chipette from before re-appeared at their side to escort them out.**

** Theodore began to stare at her again as she politely said, "This way, please." They walked back down the hall they had come from to the door and exited one by one.**

** Theodore hesitated next to the servant, trying to force words out. "I-I'm Theodore," he blurted out, not knowing what else to say.**

** She giggled, though. "I'm Eleanor," she said softly.**

** They gazed at each other for a moment longer, and then he stepped down out of the house after Alvin and Simon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ok, here we are with the next chapter! Sorry it took me so long, folks.**

**Okay. I know this one is, like, WAAAAAAAAAY longer than the others have been, but there was just so much information, and I hate breaking scenes up into a bunch of different chapters. I really hope you don't mind!**

**Reviews, please!**

Simon continued to read. "The next night..."

**"And here we are again," Simon sighed, walking through the enormous iron gates. He tugged uncomfortably at the black suit that he had been forced to wear. His fedora was gone, which made him feel exposed and vulnerable.**

** "Yes, indeed," Alvin purred, sauntering up the front walk in his white tuxedo. "This is the most fascinating and wonderful case that we've had in a long time."**

** "You say that about every case that involves your love life," Simon grumbled at him.**

** "I wonder if Eleanor will be there," Theodore piped up happily. He was trotting along next to them in his police uniform.**

** "Well, it's a dinner party, and Eleanor is part of the staff at the mansion. My guess would be a yes. Brittany's dinner parties are normally an 'all-hands-on-deck' thing when it comes to her staff." He critically surveyed Theodore's outfit. "Remind me again why you're in your uniform and not in disguise like the rest of us?"**

** "It was Brittany's idea," he explained. "She wanted one person there who was a police officer. She said it would look suspicious to the thief if she didn't have any security there after her bracelet had just been stolen."**

** "That's a good idea," Simon admitted grudgingly yet again. "She's just full of them, isn't she? You wouldn't think it by looking at her personality," he added under his breath.**

** They knocked on the door, and the door opened to reveal Eleanor. She was wearing a green evening dress and holding a clipboard, her hair in an elegant up-do. Theodore gawked openly at her.**

** She smiled politely. "Good evening, gentlemen," she said. Her voice was polite, but it was cool and detached, sounding as though she were greeting just any other guest.**

** Theodore's face fell a little. "Hi," he said breathlessly. "Don't you remember me?"**

** Simon spotted another couple coming up the walk and drove his elbow into Theodore's side. Theodore let out a yelp and tried to turn it into a cough.**

** "He was a member of the security at Miss Brittany's last dinner party," Simon said smoothly.**

** She gave a little smile. "Ah, I see. I regret to say that you don't look familiar, but then, Miss Miller's last party was months ago." She consulted a list. "Names, please."**

** "Singeon Jones," Simon said smoothly.**

** "Calvin McPherson," Alvin replied.**

** "Um…Trevor Andrews," Theodore lied, seeming to catch on that they were using fake names.**

** "Yes, you three are on here," she said, consulting the list. "Mr. Andrews, please contact Miss Miller, and she will let you know what to do about the security during the party."**

** Theodore nodded, still confused, and the three went into the manor.**

** "What's the deal?" Theodore asked Simon under his breath.**

** "We can't let people know that we've been here," Simon breathed. "We're undercover, remember? That's why we had to use fake names. Eleanor knows that, too, which is why she's acting like this."**

** "Oh," Theodore murmured.**

** They stepped into the ballroom where people were milling around. All the men wore tuxedos and the women wore ball gowns, even the staff. Their gowns were simpler, so you could tell them apart from the guests.**

** They stepped into the room and walked around a few times. Simon looked one way and then another. He was looking for someone in particular…**

** So was Alvin, it seemed. He was craning his neck and looking all around.**

** "Where's Brittany?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "She should be here at her own dinner party!"**

** "Yeah, I'm sure she is," Simon assured him. "She must still be getting ready."**

* * *

**"How do I look, Jeanette?" Brittany asked anxiously, patting her hair.**

** "You'd look even better if you'd hold still for a minute," Jeanette pointed out.**

** Brittany smiled. Jeanette was the only one of her servants who was allowed to talk to her that way.**

** She obediently held her head still, and Jeanette twisted her strands of ginger hair into a delicate bun. Several ringlets fell down from the bun, strategically framing her face.**

** "All right, now do your makeup while I get your dress ready, okay?" Jeanette walked over to prepare Brittany's dress, knowing full well that Brittany never allowed anyone else to do her makeup.**

** Jeanette prepared Brittany's gown and brought it out just as Brittany was finishing her mascara.**

** Brittany whirled and gaped at the gown. "That?" she asked with clear distaste.**

** "Yes, Brittany." Amusement was clear in Jeanette's tone.**

** "But…but it's so UNGLAMOROUS!" Brittany cried.**

** "Sometimes simplifying what you're wearing makes you look even more beautiful," Jeanette told her gently. "I think it's time you toned it down a bit and let some of your natural beauty shine through."**

** Brittany sighed reluctantly, but she stepped into the dress. It was a dusty rose color. The top was strapless and tightly fitted. The skirt was very full, but not a hoop skirt like it normally was. Sparkling golden lace made pretty patterns on it. Altogether much simpler than what she normally wore.**

** "Here," Jeanette said with a smile. She put golden hoop earrings on her friend and then put a necklace on. A thin golden chain with several diamond-shaped pink gems dangling from it.**

** "This is it?" Brittany wailed. "No adorable accessories?"**

** "Yes, you do have adorable accessories," Jeanette corrected. "You just don't have any **_**extravagant **_**accessories." Smiling, she turned Brittany around to face the mirror.**

** Brittany was taken aback. Without all the feathers, glitter, sequins, and rhinestones to take attention away from her face and hair, she realized that the dress set off her eyes perfectly. Her hair was styled perfectly, too, and her makeup seemed to make her radiate a serene glow. The dress hugged her body, displaying the curves that she hadn't seen before.**

** "Oh," she whispered, staring at her reflection.**

** Jeanette appeared in the mirror at her shoulder, grinning at her best friend. "What do you think?" she asked after a moment.**

** "Thank you," Brittany whispered, her cheeks coloring slightly and making her look even prettier. "I'd hug you, but I don't want to mess up either of our outfits." She grinned at Jeanette. She had done Jeanette's hair. Now it hung down her back in a tight braid with several ringlets that fell down to frame her face. Just like Brittany's, but Brittany's hair was in a bun instead of a braid. Jeanette wore a simple strapless purple evening dress that swished around her ankles.**

** "Now, let's get you down there," Jeanette told Brittany, smiling and squeezing her friend's hands.**

** "Okay." Brittany took a deep, nervous breath before stepping into her high-heels.**

** Jeanette headed for the door. "Give me some time to get down there, and I'll be there for your big entrance, okay?" she asked Brittany.**

** Brittany nodded, afraid of her voice squeaking if she said anything.**

** "Oh, and Brittany?"**

** Brittany turned from the mirror to look at her friend.**

** Jeanette smiled at her. "You're going to knock Alvin's socks off," she said quietly.**

** Brittany's eyes bugged out. "What?" she spluttered. "Y-but-how did you—,"**

** "I'm you're best friend, Britt, and I'm not dense," Jeanette grinned, winking at her. "He couldn't take his eyes off of you, Brittany. You're going to blow him out of the water."**

** She left the room in a swish of satin, and Brittany was left staring into the mirror and feeling very confused.**

* * *

**Simon didn't even try to mingle. He knew any awkward attempt he might give would fall flat, and it would lead to extra questions about who he was; after all, none of the other guests knew him.**

** Alvin's charisma, on the other hand, allowed him to easily slip through the crowd, chatting and laughing with various guests. He even danced a little.**

** Simon reluctantly realized that it would look suspicious if he just hung off to the side at one of Brittany Miller's parties. He pushed himself to his feet and slid into the crowd.**

** He was greeted by two other friendly faces, a man and a woman, and he started a conversation with them.**

** He was scanning the area out of the corner of his eye, trying to look for anything suspicious. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.**

** "…you?" he heard the woman say, and he turned to smile at her.**

** "Excuse me?" he asked politely. "Sorry, I didn't hear you."**

** "I asked for your name," she repeated, looking a bit annoyed.**

** "Singeon," he responded, smiling in a friendly way at her. "And you are?"**

** "Lady Simpson," she said grandly, holding her hand out.**

_**Jessica Simpson, Brittany's suspect! **_**Simon thought. His face betrayed none of the alarm that he felt as he took her outstretched hand and kissed it.**

** "This is Sir Ryan Edwards," she announced, patting the arm of the man next to her.**

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Alvin interrupted the story. "Jessica and _Ryan? _As in, Jessica the snobby cheerleader and Ryan the moronic football jock who nearly ruined EVERYTHING for us in our first year of high school? That Jessica and Ryan?"

"Yeah, I decided to throw them in the story," Simon snapped. "Jessica WAS part of the story, remember? Brittany suspected her at first."

"Continue, please," Brittany called from where she was sitting on the table, leaning forward with a sparkle in her eye. "I want to get to the part where I make my grand entrance!"

"Well, if some people would stop cutting me off…" Simon glared at Alvin.

Brittany smacked Alvin in the back of the head, hard.

"OW!" he yelled.

"Stop interrupting Simon, darling," she told him, fluttering her eyelashes.

He glared at her and then turned back to face his brother, muttering under his breath.

"What was that?" she snapped.

"I said, 'Whatever you say, dear,'" Alvin said louder, rolling his eyes so that she couldn't see him.

Satisfied, she leaned back and gestured for Simon to continue.

**"Nice to meet you," Simon said errantly. Ryan didn't look all that friendly, but he DID look a little familiar…**

** Jessica chattered away, hanging onto Ryan's elbow, as Simon scanned the crowd.**

** His heart gave a leap when he saw Jeanette. She didn't look just as, if not more, beautiful as the other day. She was wearing a purple evening gown under her apron that swirled around her ankles as she mingled in the crowd, smiling and laughing and offering people crab cakes and finger sandwiches off of the tray that she was carrying. Her purple eyes sparkled as she chatted with the guests, flashing her dazzling grin at each one as she served their food.**

** "…like my dress?" he heard Jessica ask, and his head snapped around to face her.**

** "Oh, yes," he replied, not knowing what she'd said. She looked satisfied.**

** "Oh, I know!" she gushed. "I've been saving this dress, waiting for the right occasion to wear it, and I decided, well, this **_**is **_**a pretty fancy party, so maybe I should take it out and wear it! But **_**then, **_**horror of horrors, I didn't have a **_**single **_**pair of matching shoes! So I thought hard, and I said…"**

** Simon was easily able to tune her out as he looked around carefully. He saw Theodore sitting by the wall, gobbling down some crab cakes in his hand. Alvin was chatting with a few of the more important-looking guests. Jeanette was laughing and talking to a couple in a tuxedo and white ball gown as she offered them refreshments.**

** "…ring Amber! She'll know what to do!' And I did just that. I picked up my telephone and gave Amber a call, and she loaned me these wonderful high heels that went just **_**perfectly **_**with my gown…"**

** Simon saw Jeanette step forward. Another handsome man slipped out of the crowd, smiling at her, but she didn't see him. Simon frowned as the man stepped forward. He had dark hair and green eyes, and he was grinning at Jeanette.**

** Simon saw him touch her shoulder. She turned, and her eyes widened slightly.**

** He began to talk to her, using his hands. She slowly lowered the tray that she was holding, listening attentively. She laughed at something he said, her entire face lighting up.**

** Simon gritted his teeth. For some reason, he didn't like this man talking to her. He didn't want him to.**

** "…of course, she will NEVER do anything nice for anyone unless she's getting something in return, the silly, so I HAD to lend her my diamond earrings, which is the only reason I'm not wearing them now. That's how the barter system works, see, you have to weigh one thing for another. I had to take the shoes, even though it meant losing my earrings. I have other earrings that, while not as fabulous, at least MATCH. I had no other shoes that even came CLOSE."**

** "Jessica, dear, I think you're boring the poor man," Ryan joked as he straightened his white silk gloves, but he was actually right. Simon was very bored with the conversation indeed.**

** He turned back as Jessica began to prattle again, completely ignoring what Ryan had just said. Simon searched for Jeanette and found her easily again, still laughing and chatting it up with the strange dark-haired man.**

** Suddenly, she saw a clock on the wall and gasped. Apologizing, she scurried away and vanished into the crowd. Frowning, Simon craned his neck, trying to find her again, but she had disappeared. Vanishing was something that she was extremely good at, he noted grimly.**

** He turned back to Jessica and Ryan and tried to act like he was paying attention. Shortly, though, he figured out where Jeanette had gone when he saw her standing by the grand staircase. She clapped her hands, and the sound echoed throughout the room.**

** Everyone turned to look at her in that instant, and her eyes grew wide. Whatever she had been about to say died in her throat as she faced all the eyes staring right at her.**

** Everyone was silent for five seconds, ten. She began to blush furiously, seeming frozen and horrified.**

** Simon got the feeling that Jeanette did **_**not **_**like being the center of attention.**

** Suddenly, Eleanor sidled up beside her. She reached out and gave Jeanette's hand a comforting squeeze.**

** "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?" Eleanor called in an authoritative voice to the guests that were starting to murmur to one another.**

** They all hushed again and turned to her expectantly.**

** "Presenting the hostess of this wonderful gala…" Eleanor stepped to the side of the staircase, drawing Jeanette with her and gesturing to the top with one sweeping arm. "Miss Brittany Miller."**

** Everyone was silent as the orchestra played a little fanfare. A spotlight shone directly on Brittany, who had appeared at the top of the stairs.**

** Simon was a bit surprised at the simplicity of her gown. It was not simple at all, of course, but compared to the getup that she normally wore, this was like Jeanette's common evening dress.**

** Not that he had anything against that dress.**

** It looked good on her, though, oddly suiting as she descended slowly to soft strains from the orchestra. She stopped about halfway down and gestured with her gloved hands, smiling graciously. I looked over at Alvin, who was practically drooling, the girls that he had previously been talking to forgotten.**

** "Honored guests," she called in a silvery voice that carried, "thank you so much for attending. I hope you all have a wonderful time!"**

** She laughed a sparkling laugh, and her dazzling smile was so infectious that even I began to grin as well. I was beginning to see exactly the type of stage presence this girl had. She really knew how to get an audience excited. As she lowered her hands and continued her descent, the guests all burst into applause. They began to chat and mingle again as she reached the bottom of the staircase and was immediately swallowed into the crowd. The orchestra began to play again.**

** "Well…all right, so she can make a half-decent entrance," Jessica sniffed. "I suppose that much can be said for her."**

** Simon covered a smile as they began to talk again. He tried to keep an eye on Jessica to see if she looked suspicious, knowing that Brittany would eventually make her way over to him in good time.**

** "Crab cake?"**

** A very soft voice next to his ear made him jump a little. Then he realized that it must have been one of the waitresses.**

** "Yes, I'd love—," He turned and was abruptly staring into two striking violet eyes.**

_**Jeanette…**_

**"—one," he finished halfheartedly, unable to look away.**

**He remembered the staring match that Brittany and Alvin had in his office, and he remembered how stupid they had looked. He was determined not to let that happen to him.**

"**Er…here you go," she stammered, holding out the tray. He selected one and held it between his hands, fidgeting.**

** "Excuse me?" Jessica snapped. "I'd like one **_**today, **_**please!"**

** Simon bristled instantly. If someone had snapped at him like that, he knew that he would have exploded.**

** Jeanette merely turned and held out the tray. "I'm very sorry, ma'am," she simply replied. "Please forgive me."**

** Jessica softened enough to take one of the little sandwiches.**

** "If I may say so, miss, your dress is absolutely stunning," Jeanette said earnestly, holding the tray out to Ryan as well. He nodded and took a crab cake.**

** Jessica instantly brightened and smoothed the shimmering fabric. "Really? Do you think so? See, I bought it at a boutique a little while back, so it's all the latest fashions. But when I decided to wear it tonight…"**

** Jessica launched into her boring tale of the shoes that didn't match, and Simon instantly tuned her out again. But he noticed that Jeanette didn't. She was nodding and listening attentively, which made Jessica brighten even more.**

** Another fact that he tucked away into his memory bank about Jeanette. She was a good listener.**

"All right, this is getting disgusting," Alvin exclaimed. "Just skip to the interesting part, would you?"

Simon shuffled some papers and glared at his brother. Then he exhaled in a huff.

"Fine," he snapped, skipping a page or two.

"You can read the rest to me tonight, if that's all right," Jeanette leaned over and whispered, putting a paw on his knee.

He smiled at her gratefully and began to read again.

**Brittany was at Simon's side before he could prepare for her. She smiled coolly.**

** "Jessica, Ryan. How wonderful that you could make it."**

** "Glad to be here," Jessica responded stiffly, smiling coldly back.**

** They eyed each other with distaste before Brittany turned to greet Ryan.**

** Then she turned to Simon.**

** "Ah, Singeon," she sighed. "Glad you could make it."**

** "Glad to be here, Miss Miller," he replied, smiling.**

** She waved a hand. "Always stuffy, aren't you?" She giggled slightly. "You know that you can call me Brittany. Just because I turned out more successful and rich than you did doesn't mean that you have to mess with all those formalities."**

** "You two are acquainted, then?" Jessica asked, smiling at Simon with something suggestive.**

** "Yes," Brittany replied, sending a half-glance in Jessica's direction. "We were good friends in college, you see."**

** "Oh, you made it through college?" Jessica asked innocently.**

"She's even rude in the story," Brittany sniffed.

"NOW who's interrupting?" Alvin asked, smirking at her.

**Brittany flushed red and glared fiercely at Jessica, her icy blue eyes flashing dangerously.**

** "Singeon? A word, please?" she asked sweetly, not taking her eyes off of Jessica.**

** "Of course," Simon responded quietly, following her into the crowd. He nabbed Alvin by the elbow as he passed, dragging him along with them.**

** They slipped into the next room, making sure that no one was watching them. Theodore joined, looking confused.**

** "I just know that it's her," Brittany hissed, looking livid. "I'm about to put the plan into action, boys. Jeanette's going to help me. You just have to make sure that Jessica's near me."**

** "Er…who's Jeanette?" Alvin asked, sounding confused and skeptical.**

** "My **_**maid, **_**Alvin, do try to keep up," she snapped.**

** She left in a swirl of skirts to go back into the ballroom. Alvin watched her go with a dreamy smile.**

** "She's cute when she's angry," he chuckled.**

Eleanor and Theodore both started laughing.

"Well, she _is," _Alvin defended himself.

Brittany glared at him. "I'm still not going to forgive you for the skateboard thing, so you can stop trying to flatter me."

"Is it working?" he asked with a bright smile.

"NO."

**Simon had made sure that Jessica was in the right spot, positioned near the glass case as they chatted, just as Jeanette walked over.**

** Many of the guests were listening and watching closely as Brittany waved her over; searching for new gossip, no doubt.**

** "Jeanette, be a dear and get some more crab cakes from the kitchen," Brittany told her, smiling.**

** "Yes, miss," Jeanette said, curtsying. Then she noticed that Brittany was standing next to a glass case. In the case, resting comfortably on a plush pillow, was the fake bracelet.**

** "Miss, your bracelet!" Jeanette exclaimed. "I thought that someone stole it!"**

** "That's what I've been saying," Brittany said brightly, "because I thought it was true. But then I realized that the thief had only stolen the FAKE one!" She laughed a silvery laugh. "All that fuss over nothing. I must have switched the real and fake ones in my drawers by accident, and the thief took the false. It isn't worth anything."**

** She patted the glass case proudly. "THIS is the real one. I'm keeping it in this case so that it doesn't get stolen, too."**

** "Smart idea, ma'am," Eleanor chimed in as she bustled past. "Jeanette, crab cakes?"**

** "Yes, of course," Jeanette said immediately, following Eleanor back into the kitchen.**

** "That was very smart of you, my dear," a woman said, patting Brittany on the arm.**

** Brittany beamed. **_**"Thank **_**you, Miss Macintosh. Did I ever tell you about those earrings that were stolen awhile back? They weren't taken from **_**me, **_**of course, but the owners of the manor a few blocks down said…"**

** Simon turned slightly to see Jessica looking at the bracelet with something that was at least interest in her eyes.**

_**Bingo, **_**he thought. **_**Hopefully, we can prove that Jessica took it by the end of the evening and I can get out of here and never have to associate with Miss Brittany Miller again.**_

**Theodore was standing, prepared, at the doorway to the ballroom, next to the glass case. Simon and Alvin were both waiting on the edges of the room.**

** They were ready for something to happen.**

** And then several things did.**

** Simon was talking to Jessica when she looked around nervously and said, "Er…excuse me, Mr. Singeon, I have to go…talk to Ryan! Yes, that's it. I have to go talk to Ryan."**

** She hurried off. Simon watched her suspiciously.**

** He looked over at Alvin and touched the bridge of his nose lightly with one fingertip. Then he pushed his glasses up on his nose.**

** That was the signal for **_**get ready.**_

**He did the same to Theodore and waited.**

** And then something did happen.**

** The lights went out.**

** Everything was plunged into darkness.**

** Brittany stumbled and felt someone grab her. She let out an earsplitting scream.**

** "Shh! Brittany, it's me!" Alvin hissed in her ear.**

** Everyone was yelling and stumbling around, trying to get to the lights.**

** Simon heard someone rushing past.**

** From the glass case.**

** In the direction of the doorway.**

** "THEODORE!" he bellowed. "THEY'RE COMING AT YOU!"**

** He heard a scuffle, a thud, and an "ouch!"**

** "I've got someone!" he heard Theodore yell. "I've got someone!"**

** Simon groped over to the lights and managed to turn them back on.**

** A frazzled-looking Brittany was in Alvin's arms, clinging to him for dear life. All the guests turned to look at Theodore, who was holding down…**

** "Jessica!" Theodore cried.**

** "Unhand me, you ruffian!" she cried, squirming underneath him. **_**"What **_**is the meaning of this?"**

** "I knew it!" Brittany cried triumphantly, approaching Jessica and pointing at the case.**

** It was empty.**

** "You took my bracelet!" she exclaimed.**

** Jessica stared up at her, looking astonished. "Your **_**what?" **_**she cried. "Your bracelet? Why on earth would I want your bracelet?"**

** Simon and Alvin approached. "Let's take this into another room," Simon murmured under his breath.**

** Ryan pushed his way through the crowd. "What is going on?" he cried.**

** "Ryan, where were you?" Jessica exclaimed. "Tell these hooligans to let me go!"**

** Theodore pulled her to her feet, and the group rushed into the next room.**

** Brittany signaled for her maids, looking flustered. Eleanor and Jeanette hurried to her side at once. Simon tried to catch Jeanette's eye, but she seemed determined not to meet his gaze.**

** They all followed the others into the room with Jessica.**

** Theodore sat her on a couch. Brittany sank onto another one, looking flustered. Alvin sat next to her, putting a comforting arm around her.**

** Simon was skeptical. Brittany seemed a very…strong woman since he'd met her, and he had a feeling that she was acting more upset than she really was so that Alvin would take care of her.**

** Simon stood across from Jessica. He tipped his hat. "Simon Seville, detective, at your service."**

** She stared at him with wide eyes.**

** "Now," Simon continued, "we set a trap. We knew someone would try to steal the bracelet. You were heard going past the bracelet and were found coming out the door in the very instant the bracelet went missing."**

** "I didn't take it!" Jessica exclaimed, looking disgusted.**

** "How can you prove that?" Simon asked calmly.**

** He saw Jeanette staring admiringly at him, and he tried to focus on the task at hand.**

** "First of all, I can't wear bracelets. At all," Jessica explained. "So I have no motive."**

** Simon blinked, impressed that she used a term such as "motive."**

** "What do you mean, exactly, when you say 'can't wear bracelets?'" Jeanette chimed in. Simon was impressed again, this time with Jeanette's professionalism.**

** Jessica looked at Brittany. "What size is your bracelet?"**

** Brittany blinked. "Um. An eight."**

** Jessica nodded. She held out her wrist. "I can't wear bracelets," she explained, "because my wrist can only hold a size five. Anything above that slides right off whenever I lower my hand. So I couldn't have had your bracelet."**

** They all examined her oddly skinny wrist.**

** "That's all fine and dandy," Simon said at last, raising an eyebrow, "but we'll need something better than that. People don't just steal things because they want to wear them, you know. In fact, most don't. They take it to sell it and make money off of it."**

** "I didn't take that bracelet," Jessica insisted.**

** "Let's search for clues," Jeanette suggested before everyone could start yelling. She turned. "I think Eleanor has all the guests out of there by now."**

** They entered the now-empty ballroom and began to search.**

** Simon felt hopeless as he searched the room for the third time. He hadn't found anything. There weren't even fingerprints on the glass case or the pillow, for crying out loud!**

** "Here!" called Jeanette. "Over here!"**

** They all turned to see her standing next to the glass case that was now empty.**

_**How did she find something when I couldn't after three searches? **_**Simon wondered.**

** They all raced over. She pointed through the glass at the pillow that had previously held the bracelet.**

** Simon lifted the glass and they all looked closer.**

** Crumbs.**

** "Those are crab cake crumbs," Jeanette declared.**

** "Are you sure?" Brittany squeaked, clinging to Alvin's arm for support. Alvin didn't look like he minded at all.**

** "I've served enough of them tonight to know what they look like," Jeanette answered with a firm nod. "I'm sure."**

** "There! See?" Jessica cried. "I haven't had a crab cake all night! I'm allergic to seafood!"**

** They all turned to Simon.**

** "It's true," he admitted. "I've been with her all night. She's only had those little finger sandwiches."**

** "I don't see crumbs of those anywhere," Jeanette added. "And believe me, that bread is crumbly. If the thief had a sandwich, there would be crumbs all over the place."**

** "All right, all right," Brittany grumbled. "Fine. But then answer this. Why were you running toward the door when the lights went out?"**

** Jessica stiffened and glared at her. "I was just looking for my purse!" she exclaimed. "I left it in the front room, and it had my new earrings in it. I was going to show Jeanette here." Jessica shrugged. "She seemed so interested…"**

** "You told me you were going to look for Ryan," Simon reminded her.**

** She glowered at him. "Everyone was listening to me!" she snapped. "With Brittany's bracelet theft, I didn't want to reveal that I had a pair of very valuable diamond earrings unprotected in my purse!"**

** "She did say that she was going to go and show me those earrings," Jeanette admitted to the others.**

** "Fine," Brittany snapped. "Jessica's innocent. But we're still keeping an eye on her!"**

** "Well, if we're done playing twenty questions, I take my leave, then, if you don't mind." Jessica's voice was icy.**

** Brittany barely inclined her head. Huffing, Jessica swept out of the hall with Ryan in tow, looking confused and calling after her, "I was in the bathroom—what happened?"**

** The door slammed behind them, and Brittany collapsed in a chair, groaning.**

** "Nice call, Simon," she snapped, glaring at him. "That was SO embarrassing!"**

** "Anyone would have thought the same," Jeanette assured her in that same soft, sweet voice. "You handled yourself with grace, Brittany. She would have been a lot worse if it had happened to her."**

** Brittany brightened. "That's true, she would have, wouldn't she?"**

** "Oh, yes," Alvin agreed, beaming at her hopefully.**

** She smiled at him, a faint blush decorating her cheeks. "Well, all, thank you for coming," she said dejectedly. "I guess we haven't figured it out yet. We'll have to schedule another time for you to come in secret so that we can work out another plan." She frowned in determination. "I'm going to get that bracelet back. I've got to!"**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here we are with chapter five! Enjoy! Review, please! I appreciate your reviews so much!**

"That's the end of the chapter," Simon told them, lowering the page.

"All right," Alvin admitted. "I hate to admit it, but this is really getting interesting."

"Yeah," Brittany nodded with a frown. "I wonder what happened?"

"Brittany, this happened to us last week!" Eleanor reminded her, frowning.

"Not in the FIFTIES, it didn't!" Brittany shot back.

"We still know who really took the bracelet," Theodore reminded them.

Brittany glowered at him. "Would you just let it be interesting, Theo?" she snapped.

He held his arms up in surrender.

"Jeanette, I believe it's your turn," Simon said, turning to his counterpart. Jeanette flushed again, but hurried to shuffle her papers before anyone could offer to read it for her.

She coughed a little, cleared her throat, and began to read.

* * *

"Have you thought this through, Brittany?" Jeanette asked nervously.

"Yes, of course I have!" Brittany snapped, adjusting her jacket and looking across the hall where her suspect was waiting by her locker.

"Really?" Simon was very skeptical. "You're just going to storm up to Jessica and accuse her of stealing your bracelet."

"I'm going to handle it with a bit more class than that," Brittany sniffed.

Turning, she stormed up to Jessica, got right up in her face, and accused, "You stole my bracelet!"

Jeanette smacked her forehead.

"More class, my tail," Simon grumbled.

Jessica blinked at her. "Ex-_cuse _me?" she demanded.

"Don't play innocent," Brittany hissed, her eyes narrowing into slits. "I know that you did it."

"This is not going to end well," Alvin muttered.

Ryan stepped up next to Jessica. "Shows how stupid you are, furball," he sneered at Brittany.

Alvin immediately bristled, storming over.

"Leave her alone, you moron!" he snarled at Ryan.

Ryan laughed mockingly. "What are you going to do about it, rat?"

"Listen," Jessica interrupted, her eyes narrowed. "Look, I didn't take your bracelet."

"How do I know that?"

Jessica held her arms out, and then she grabbed one of Brittany's and held it next to hers, comparing the two.

"Look at this," she sneered. "Your bracelet would be a RING on me, in case you haven't noticed." She smirked. "I wouldn't want to wear it, anyway. It would probably be all full of, like, fur and stuff."

Brittany growled at her.

"She does have a point, Britt," Jeanette half-whispered, peering nervously up at the cheerleader. "I think that she's innocent."

"There's no proof of that," Brittany grumbled, but she realized that it was a lost cause. "Fine," she snapped at Jessica. "But I'm keeping an eye on you!"

She whirled and stormed off, glaring furiously.

"Should we…" Jeanette started after her sister, but Simon put a hand on her shoulder.

"Just let her go," he sighed. "She'll cool down eventually."

"Yeah, but we've got to get her bracelet back," Jeanette insisted.

"You're telling ME," Simon grumbled. "She won't quit whining until we do."

Jeanette shot him a glare. "I was thinking of the fact that it would make her _happy," _she said pointedly.

"Right. Yeah. That, too," he said quickly.

Then he noticed his hand still on her shoulder. He hurried to remove it, blushing hard. He noticed that she was, too.

"All right," Alvin decided. "It MUST have been Jessica. She's just denying it. Unfortunately, we don't have any proof."

"What are you going to do?" Simon snapped, not liking the steely glint in his brother's eye.

"I'm going to follow her!" Alvin declared.

"Right, you do that," Simon grumbled. "Jeanette, come on, we should get to—,"

He turned, but Jeanette was no longer by his side like she had been previously.

"Jeanette?" he called blankly.

He heard laughter from the other side of the hall. Turning, he saw two chipmunks standing on the other side of the hall. Jeanette was clutching her books and giggling at something the other one had said. He had dark fur, green eyes, and a leather jacket.

It was…

"Mark?" Simon was still grumbling hours later. "Why was she talking to Mark?"

"Well, did you ask her?" Theodore offered as he stared over at Simon, who had been sulking on his bed the entire afternoon.

"Well, I…no," Simon admitted. "I didn't want to interrupt her." He frowned. "Well, I _did _want to interrupt her, but I knew that it wouldn't have been polite. So I just went to class. She caught up with me later, but she was almost tardy. Jeanette's never even come close to being tardy before."

He glared at the ceiling.

"Gee, it sure is bothering you a lot, though," Alvin snickered.

Simon picked up a shoe and threw it, hard. He stomped out of the room, not looking back as there was a thud and an "ow!"

Privately, he wondered why he cared, too. Jeanette was his best friend, and he didn't know wha to make of these new jealous feelings.

Oh, well.

He heard Alvin muttering about his plans to stalk Jessica, and he decided to forget about his own feelings for the time being.

_This is not going to end well, _he thought grimly as he heard Alvin plotting some more.

* * *

"That's all I have for this chapter," Jeanette half-whispered. "Mine are shorter than Simon's are."

"I thought it was good," Eleanor said, smiling. "But how did you know all that stuff about Simon?"

"He told me," she said shyly, flushing an even brighter red than Simon was. He smiled shyly at her.

"The cookies STILL aren't ready," Theodore sighed exasperatedly from the stove. "Simon, your turn!"

Simon took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and began to read.

**"What are you going to do about it, Mr. Detective?" Simon snapped at Alvin, who had been ranting for a half hour about how he knew that Jessica had taken the bracelet and what an outrage it was.**

** Alvin glared at Simon, and then he collapsed in a chair.**

** "Listen," he said hoarsely. "I've dated—and conned—a lot of girls in my short lifetime, but I'm feeling something for this billionaire that I've never felt before, not for any of them. I will do anything if it means winning her favor. You ask me what I'm going to do about it? **_**I'm gonna do whatever it takes."**_

**Alvin stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.**

** Simon groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.**

_**This is not going to end well, **_**he thought.**

** Then he began to wonder. Could Alvin really be in love? He had been acting a way around Brittany that he hadn't acted around any girl in his memory before.**

_**Anything's possible, I guess, **_**he thought, heaving himself to his feet and exiting his office, walking down the block toward Brittany's manor. **_**Even Mr. Player actually settling down with someone and having…feelings for her.**_

**That reminded him of what he had seen earlier, Jeanette talking with that strange man.**

_**You don't know that it meant anything, **_**he scolded himself. **_**And even if it did, why do you care? You don't even know her. You've never properly introduced yourself…**_

**He rang the doorbell as he arrived at Brittany's.**

_**She probably doesn't even know your name.**_

**"Mr. Seville?"**

** He looked up right into Jeanette's bright purple eyes and instantly forced himself to look away. He knew that if he didn't, he would stay there staring at them all night.**

_**Fine, she knows my name. That doesn't mean she knows anything else about me.**_

**"Yes, but please just call me Simon," he said politely, reaching a hand out.**

** She hesitated before carefully putting her hand in his.**

** Electricity snapped up his arm so hard that he jumped a little. It felt like fireworks were going off in his head.**

** He abruptly jerked his hand back just as she did the same, both of them staring at each other with wide eyes.**

** "What the…" he breathed.**

** "I—uh—I—," She couldn't stop stammering. "Er…did you want to see Miss Brittany? I can go get her, right this way…"**

** She scurried off down the hall without waiting to see if Simon was following. Frowning slightly, he hurried after her, not knowing what to make of the situation.**

** "I'll go get her," Jeanette called over her shoulder again before scurrying down the hall and out of sight.**

** Simon looked after her, feeling very confused.**

** He took a seat on one of the couches and waited. Sure enough, Brittany soon came bustling into sight, looking confused. She was wearing a light pink skirt and tightly fitted top.**

** "Simon?" She sounded just as puzzled as she looked. "Please excuse my attire," she added, looking down at her dress in disgust. "I know I'm not dressed for company, but I wasn't expecting anybody."**

** Simon privately thought that the dress was nicer and more expensive than anything HE owned, not that he owned many dresses, but he decided to put it aside for now.**

** "I'm so sorry to bother you, Miss Miller," he responded, getting to his feet, "but I'm afraid that Alvin has gone off on some sort of mission. He's trying to follow Jessica around, and if she really is the one that took your bracelet, then Alvin could be in serious trouble."**

** Brittany put a hand on her heart. "Oh, no!" she gasped. "That stupid, stupid…" Her words trailed off into muttering. She thought hard, her eyes narrowed.**

** "Right, then," she announced. "I'm going after him."**

** Simon's eyes widened. He certainly hadn't expected THAT. "Uh, I'm not sure that's the best idea, Miss Miller—," he tried to say as he hurried after her. She was now walking determinedly toward the door at a brisk pace.**

** Then they rounded the corner. Simon's eyes widened Jeanette was standing there. She looked up with wide eyes. "Brit—uh—I mean—Miss Brittany," she stammered, barely catching her slip, "where are you going?"**

** "I'm going after Alvin," Brittany said determinedly. "He's going after Jessica. And I'm going to make sure that he doesn't get into any trouble."**

** "That's not a good idea, Miss Brittany!" Jeanette cried, holding a hand out and stopping Brittany inches from the door.**

** Brittany leveled her with an annoyed look. "Why not?" she snapped.**

** "Because if Miss Jessica was after your bracelet, she could be after you as well," Jeanette pointed out. "She might try to hold you for ransom or take some more of your things if she finds you. Then Alvin would be in BIGGER trouble."**

** Brittany bit her lip, considering this.**

** "Why don't you stay here, and Eleanor and I can go instead," Jeanette suggested. "We can help him and report back what we find."**

** "That's a good idea," Brittany said breathlessly. "Thank you, Jeanette." She quickly embraced her maid.**

** "I'll fetch Eleanor," Simon offered. "I'll go with you two. Together, we can rein Alvin in. Hopefully."**

** He turned to leave, rounding the corner again.**

** "Oh, dear, Jeanette," he heard Brittany huff. "Can you fix my hair for me, please?"**

** "Certainly, Britt," Jeanette responded in her quiet voice.**

** Simon knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but he stopped to listen anyway.**

** "What's the matter, Jeanette?" Brittany asked after a minute of silence.**

** "Nothing," Jeanette answered unconvincingly.**

** Brittany rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that, Jeanette. I know that something's bothering you. Care to tell me what it is?"**

** Jeanette sighed. "It's…it's Mark."**

** Simon froze, listening harder.**

** Brittany let out a squeal. **_**"The **_**Mark?" she gasped. "The very rich and handsome Sir Mark?"**

** "That's the one." Jeanette's voice was dry, and Brittany laughed.**

** "What about him?" she asked eagerly.**

** "Well…it's…he…I met him at the ball last night, and we…we spent some time together. And we danced for a bit…" Simon could imagine her blush firing up, but he was too angry to try. "And he took me out on the balcony, and, well…never mind." She gulped and quickly continued. "And he stayed around after all the guests had left, and he…well, he's asked to court me."**

** Brittany's sharp squeal was even more high-pitched. "Oh, Jeanette, that's fantastic!" she cried. "You're going to tell him yes, right?"**

** "I…I just…I mean…I don't know!" Jeanette stammered. "I'm still thinking about it."**

** "Thinking about it? What's to think about?" Brittany exclaimed. "You could be at SUCH a high social status if you courted him. You wouldn't have to be my servant anymore! We could be treated as equals! And he's so handsome and romantic…and he cares about you! What's there not to like?"**

** "Brittany, you know that I've never courted anyone before, and it's wise to be careful about it," Jeanette half-whispered. "I just don't want to go rushing into this. I want to make the right decision. I'm just giving us both some time. I mean, what if he changes his mind?"**

** "Silly, it's **_**you," **_**Brittany laughed. "What guy in his right mind would change his mind about **_**you?"**_

**"I wonder where Simon is," I heard Jeanette say nervously, and Simon knew that she was in a hurry to change the conversation.**

** So furious that a red haze was settled over his vision, he turned and stomped off in search of Eleanor.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, guys!**

**And...I have nothing to say.**

**Enjoy chapter six! Please review, I like to know what you think!**

"That's all," Simon said, lowering the paper.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is actually…actually…" Alvin began. "In—inter—inregr—tgr—in—int—,"

Brittany smacked his head.

"Interesting!" he blurted out. "It's interesting, okay?'

Simon grinned triumphantly. "Never thought I would hear the great Alvin Seville say that any type of story could be _interesting."_

"Yeah, yeah, shut up," Alvin snapped.

Simon positively cackled, falling back in his chair.

"It's my turn," Jeanette interrupted in her soft voice. She rustled her pages and began to read.

* * *

"Brittany!" Simon barged into the room.

She jerked her head up from her magazine. "What?" she snapped, clearly irritated. "Can't you see that I'm trying to get some essential reading done?"

He looked skeptically at the pictures of the skimpy models splashed across the pages, but didn't comment. "I need help," he said urgently instead. "Alvin's gone off to follow Jessica around all day."

Brittany brightened instantly. "He _did?" _she squealed. "He did that for me? Oh, that's so _romantic…"_

Seeing Simon's expression, she cleared her throat. "Erm…not that I care," she sniffed, feigning indifference.

"Uh-huh." Simon was skeptical. "Anyway, I'm afraid that he'll get into some sort of trouble, and we have to stop him!"

"Stop him? Why would I do that?" she exclaimed. "He could find my bracelet! This is a solid lead!" She opened her magazine again.

"Britt, I'm afraid that he's going to get hurt!" Simon insisted.

She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "Alvin's a big boy," she said impatiently. "I trust that he can take care of himself. He can always just climb up a tree if something goes wrong."

"Britt, the jocks that Jessica always hangs around with could really do some damage!" he insisted.

She frowned, considering this.

"All right, you're right," she said at last, biting her lip and looking worried. Then she brightened again. "I know—you can go after him!"

"Wha—me?" Simon spluttered.

She waved a hand. "You can take the others with you if you want. Just make sure that he stays out of trouble and doesn't get hurt, please."

"Why can't YOU go after him?" Simon exploded.

She looked up at him, eyebrows raised, and wiggled her toes. "Um, hello? I just got a pedicure, and it's still wet! I'm not going to trash my beautiful toenails now when I've got you to go instead."

Huffing and muttering under his breath, Simon stomped out of the room.

"I can go with you, Simon," a melodic voice offered from behind him. He turned to see Jeanette standing there, rubbing one arm nervously.

"Oh," he squeaked. "Er—sure, yeah. That's fine. I'd like that. Why don't you? Sure! Come with." He was babbling now, and she giggled slightly, stopping his torrent.

"I can go get Eleanor," she continued. "She's an excellent gymnast, and she's good in situations like these."

She turned and scampered off down the hall, blushing and wishing that she'd had the courage to ask if they could go alone, together.

* * *

"All right, there's Alvin," Jeanette whispered approximately fifty minutes later as they peered around one of the trees at the park.

"Hey, guys," an unconcerned voice squeaked from behind them.

They all yelped, jumping nearly three feet in the air. Jeanette whirled around.

"Theo!" she breathed, sinking to the ground with her back against the tree. "You nearly gave us a heart attack!"

He shrugged. "I got home to find Ellie, and Britt said that she had gone after Alvin who had gone after Jessica, and Jessica is almost always here working her tan. I came and saw you, and…" He shrugged again. "Didn't mean to scare you. My bad."

Ellie rolled her eyes, dragging him behind the tree with the others. "Try to keep it down," she murmured to him in a low voice. "We're keeping a low profile, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," he whispered.

They peeked out from behind a tree. "We've got to get over to Alvin," Simon whispered.

Then he did a double take.

Alvin was gone.

"Where did he go?" Jeanette hissed, frightened.

"Hey, guys."

"AUGH!" They all jumped again, whipping around.

"Alvin!" Jeanette snapped in a low whisper, dragging him behind the tree with them. "Honestly, why is everyone sneaking up on us like that?"

"Like what?" he frowned.

She rolled her eyes. "Never mind! Just get down and stay _quiet!"_

Alvin shrugged, complying. "Not a problem. That's what I've been doing all afternoon."

"I can't believe you would waste your entire afternoon stalking Jessica," Simon grumbled. "You honestly don't have anything better to do?"

"I do _normally," _Alvin hissed defensively. "I'm a busy man! But for Brittany, I will clear my entire schedule if I have to."

"Man, you're really into her," Jeanette said in a hushed and awed tone.

"Surprising, considering how much they argue," Eleanor mumbled. "You're like an old married couple."

"Hey!" Alvin hissed.

"It's true," Theo chimed in. Grumbling incomprehensibly to himself, Alvin sank down behind a tree root and peered over it at Jessica, not responding.

"There she is with Ryan and the other football jerks and cheerleader snobs," Simon mumbled, watching as she tossed her hair, laughing at something Ryan said, and batting her eyelashes flirtatiously at him.

They watched in silence for several long minutes.

"I don't get it," Eleanor said after awhile, exasperated. "They're not DOING anything! What are we supposed to be looking for?"

"Don't ask ME," Simon snapped. "I'm just coming after Alvin, at Brittany's request. Not that she gave me a lot of time to say no…"

"Oh, quit your whining," Alvin snapped back. "If we find out that she took this bracelet, it'll all be worth it!"

"That's a pretty big 'if', sees how she's doing nothing," Simon grumbled.

"Guys, let's not argue," Jeanette pleaded. "Look. Chances are that Jessica isn't going to take the bracelet to the park with her. Right?"

"Yeah," Eleanor chimed in. "She's right. Jessica probably has it at home or something."

"I've got it!" Alvin whispered. "When their backs are turned, we sneak into the picnic basket. Then she takes us home. We look around, find the bracelet, bust Jessica, and get back to Brittany, where I will sweep her off of her feet and give it back to her and she will be my girlfriend forever."

The others blinked at his ecstatic expression.

"Yeah, great plan," Simon whispered sarcastically. "What could POSSIBLY go wrong?"

Alvin clapped him on the shoulder. "Now you're getting the spirit of things, Si!" He took off at a run.

"Alvin, get back—oh, no," Theodore groaned as he watched his older brother sneak toward the basket.

"Well, come on," Simon grumbled. "I promised Brittany that I wouldn't let him get hurt."

"I don't have a problem with BREAKING that promise right about now," Eleanor said, clearly annoyed. "He's so irresponsible…"

"Come on," Jeanette hissed at the others, and they snuck after Alvin as quietly as they could.

Ryan was on the picnic bench, flexing his arms. Jessica was feeling his muscles and giggling in a rather flirtatious way. Eleanor mimed gagging, and Theodore had to stifle his giggles.

The five chipmunks waited by the picnic basket until they heard Jessica say, "Well, I should be getting home right about now…"

"Yeah, so should I," Ryan said reluctantly, and the others chimed in with their agreement.

"Now!" Alvin hissed, and they all scrambled over the side and fell in. Simon had to help Jeanette over the lip of the basket, and she blushed as she took his hand.

"Would you hurry up, lovebirds?" Alvin hissed, causing both of them to jump. Jeanette tumbled over the side and landed hard on a plastic bag containing a half-eaten sandwich.

"Are you all right?" Simon whispered as they got to their feet and retreated into the shadows of the basket.

She nodded, breathless, as she straightened her glasses.

A hand reached down and closed the picnic basket. Then they felt it being lifted into the air.

"See you later, Ryan!" they heard Jessica call with another flirty giggle. They could just imagine her tossing her hair and batting her eyelashes.

Then the picnic basket began to bump against a pair of legs as they began to walk, leaving the park behind.

The chipmunks waited together in tense silence, and Jeanette was glad for the first time that Brittany wasn't here. She surely would have been making complaining remarks by now about how dark and stuffy the basket was.

All of a sudden, Theodore let out a groan.

"Teddy, what's wrong?" Eleanor whispered.

"The—basket," Theodore choked out. "It's—swinging—oh, I think I'm gonna be sick—," He let out another moan.

"Uh-oh," Eleanor cried. "He's seasick—er, basket-sick."

"Hold your puke, Theo, we're almost there," Alvin whispered, peering through the slats of the basket. Eleanor patted his shoulder comfortingly.

Then, blessedly, the basket stopped. They heard a door open and close, and the basket was put down on the floor.

Then there was the sound of receding footsteps, and the door closed.

"You okay, Theodore?" Jeanette whispered as she cautiously lifted the lid an inch.

He nodded. "I'm fine…now," he said uncertainly.

"All right, let's…" The words died on Jeanette's lips as she peeked over the edge of the basket and into the room.

"What's the matter?" asked Simon worriedly.

"We—you just—I mean—we are in the wrong house," Jeanette choked out.

"What? That's impossible!" Alvin shoved her roughly aside, causing Simon to grit his teeth, and peered into the room.

He slid to the ground in a crumpled heap after getting a good look, his eyes wide and horrorstruck.

"Ok, maybe it isn't impossible," he practically whimpered. "Guys, we're in the wrong house."

"Nice." Simon was disgusted. "Idiot. 'What could go wrong?'" he mocked in a high-pitched voice.

"YOU'RE the one that said that, not me," Alvin protested.

Simon rolled his eyes at his brother's stupidity. "All right, then, if we aren't in Jessica's house, then where are we?"

The chipmunks all crawled cautiously out of the basket and looked around. They were in a fairly big, fairly spacious house. The walls were somewhat plain, but still stylish.

"How do you know that this isn't Jessica's house?" Theodore asked skeptically.

Alvin pointed out what both he and Jeanette had seen. The mantelpiece and the wall were both covered in photographs of Ryan and his family.

"And I've been to Jessica's house before," Brittany added. "This definitely isn't it."

_"Ryan?" _Simon groaned. "This wasn't Jessica's basket, it was _Ryan's! _We're not in Jessica's house, we're in _Ryan's!_ Jessica didn't carry us home—_Ryan did!"_

"Stop italicizing Ryan every time you say his name," Alvin snapped at his brother.

Simon blinked.

"All right, so I didn't know that the basket belonged to Ryan, but come on!" he continued. "What sort of dude just as an empty picnic basket lying around? Not many, I can tell you that!"

"He does have a point," Jeanette said timidly.

"Well, we'd better find an exit and get out of here, quick, before Ryan finds us," Eleanor whispered, and the others agreed. They all hopped off the counter.

While they were discussing which direction they should go, Alvin saw a side hallway. He frowned and looked down it. It was awfully dark, and it looked as if it hadn't been used very much.

He stole a sideways glance at the others, and then he crept down it as quietly as possible.

"Hey, Alvin."

"GAAAAAAAAAH!" He jumped into the air before turning to see Theodore looking up at him unconcernedly.

"Theo!" he squeaked breathlessly, trying to restart his heart. He leaned against the wall with one hand on his chest. He shook his head. "Okay, that's it. When we're out of this mess, we're going home to have a family meeting about doing that to people."

"Doing what?" Theodore asked innocently.

Alvin shook his head impatiently. "Never mind! Just come on, before the others realize that we're gone…"

The two brothers snuck down the hallway together, both trying to squash the uneasy feeling building. Alvin couldn't help but get the idea that something very bad was about to happen.

There was a single door at the end of the hall, open just a crack. Alvin and Theodore cautiously peeked in.

It appeared to be Ryan's room, but it was sparsely decorated. Sports pennants were plastered on the walls, along with the bedspread. Trophies were scattered across the top of the dresser.

But that wasn't what the boys noticed, and it wasn't what made them gasp.

The room was completely filled with jewelry. And in the very middle of it all stood Ryan, holding—

Alvin sucked in a sharp breath.

"Brittany's bracelet!" Theo whispered.

Unfortunately, he whispered it a little too loud.

Ryan whirled around. "What? Who's there?" he yelled.

"N-n-nobody but us chickens!" Theodore squeaked.

Ryan's eyes narrowed as he took a step forward.

Then there were footsteps behind the chipmunks. They whirled to see Simon, Jeanette, and Eleanor approaching.

"What are you doing?" Jeanette cried. "What's going on over there?"

Ryan took another step forward and kicked the door open with one foot. Theodore and Alvin sprawled out on the ground.

"So," Ryan drawled, glaring down at them. "You rats decided to infiltrate my house, eh?"

"Get away from them!" Jeanette cried, pushing Theodore protectively behind her toward Eleanor, who grabbed his paw and held him close.

"All right," Ryan said to her with a smirk. "I'll leave _him _alone."

Jeanette stared at him, her violet eyes wide.

In an instant, he had snatched her up by the tail and lifted her high into the air.

She let out a shriek, squeezing her eyes shut, twisting and writhing in his grip.

"Put her down!" Simon cried, jumping forward. He knew that Jeanette was terrified of heights.

"Not until you give me answers," Ryan growled, holding her even higher, away from them. "What are you doing here?"

Eleanor's maternal instincts began to grow stronger and stronger, more and more fierce. She let out a horrible snarl that surprised even herself, and she leaped forward, claws popped out, digging hard into his leg.

Ryan let out a yell and dropped both Jeanette and the bracelet. Jeanette screamed, but Simon jumped forward and managed to catch her clumsily. They both tumbled to the floor, unhurt.

"Are you all right?" Simon cried.

"The bracelet!" Alvin lunged for it, but Ryan knocked it with his toe and it skittered out of reach.

"Alvin, come on! We have to get out of here!" Eleanor yelled.

Simon pushed Jeanette to her feet. "Go!" he told her urgently.

"But—,"

"GO! NOW!" he yelled. Eleanor jumped forward. She grabbed Jeanette's paw with one of hers, Theodore's with the other, and dragged them both back down the hallway.

"Alvin, come on!" Simon snapped. He grabbed his brother by the arm and yanked him backward.

"But—the bracelet—," Alvin said desperately.

"Forget it! We have to get out of here!" Simon yelled as Ryan lunged for them again.

Alvin reluctantly succumbed, and they both whirled and skittered down the hallway after the others.

They ran all the way out of the hallway and into the front room, past the table that had the picnic basket on it, until they reached the front door.

"It's closed!" Jeanette wailed, hammering on it.

There were heavy footsteps behind them. "Get back here, you rats!" Ryan roared.

Alvin whirled…and his hand fell against something that gave way. He fell, tumbling hard, and landed…

…outside?

Then he realized.

"The cat door!" he yelled. "Guys, come on!"

They all whirled at the sound of his voice and saw the cat flap installed in the door.

"Go, go!" Simon yelled, practically shoving Jeanette through it. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him after her. Eleanor and Theodore tumbled through.

They heard Ryan fumbling with the door.

"Come on!" Alvin yelped, and they all ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

Alvin skidded to a stop on the sidewalk. "Tree, tree, tree," he muttered frantically. "There!"

They all darted over to the tree and shinnied up as fast as they could.

Quivering silently on one of the branches, they waited.

They could hear Ryan stomping around on the ground beneath them, trying to figure out where they'd gone. Finally, he gave up.

"I'll find you!" he yelled. "Wherever you go, I will find you!"

Then he stormed back inside, slamming the door behind him.

Alvin exhaled in a big gust of relief.

"That was close!" he exclaimed. "Let's get out of here, guys!"

They all waited a little while longer to make sure that Ryan wasn't there anymore. Then they slid down the tree and took off toward home.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, guys!**

**I'm supersorry that it took me so long to update. I've been camping, and we didn't have wifi, so I couldn't upload the next chapter of my story.**

**All right, Excuses Time over. I hope that you enjoy chapter seven, even if it is a little bit late :)**

"That's the end of the chapter," Jeanette announced, putting her English assignment down on the table yet again.

"WOW," Alvin huffed. "Man, do I ever remember THAT one. That sure was a doozy."

Everyone turned and glared at him at the same time.

He threw his hands up defensively. "What? We made it out of there, at least…and who did that? Who found the cat flap? Yours truly, thank you very much!"

"You wouldn't have NEEDED to find it if you hadn't gotten us into the situation in the first place," Simon pointed out angrily.

"You know, Si, we can play the blame game all the livelong day, but I think we should keep going with the story!" Alvin responded, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away.

Simon huffed and rolled his eyes. "My turn." He picked his story up and began to read.

**"THERE you are!"**

** Alvin jumped and whirled around. To his shock, Simon was standing behind him, a fedora pulled down low over his eyes, his arms crossed tightly.**

** "I have been looking EVERYWHERE for y—hey!"**

** Alvin leaped to his feet, snatched his comrade by the arm, and yanked him behind the Dumpster that he was crouching next to.**

** "Shut up!" Alvin hissed. "You're going to blow our cover! What are you doing here, anyway?"**

** Simon scowled angrily at him. "Looking for you! Didn't you hear me? **_**Miss Miller **_**requested that I track you down so that you don't get yourself killed. Which you probably will anyway."**

** Alvin frowned at him. "Sheesh! What's got YOU in such a bad mood?"**

** "Nothing," Simon muttered.**

** Alvin raised an eyebrow knowingly. "It's about that servant girl that you have the hots for, isn't it?"**

** "No!" Simon hissed. "First of all, I do not have 'the hots' for her. Second, why on earth would you assume that she has anything to do with this? And she has a name!" he added angrily as an afterthought.**

** Alvin rolled his eyes. "Your defensiveness gives away your true feelings, bro. Honestly. 'She has a name!'" he mimicked.**

** "Just shut up and watch the target," Simon snapped. "What's been going on?"**

** Alvin let out a big, gusty sigh. **_**"Nothing," **_**he said miserably. "Absolutely nothing. I've been following her all day, and there has been no sign of weird activity going on. Boring activity, sure. Suspicious activity? Nada."**

** "I'm back!" a voice chirped next to them, causing both of them to jump. Simon whirled to see Theodore crouching next to them. He waved the pastries in his hand. "And I've got doughnuts! Anything happening yet, Alvin?"**

** Then he spotted Simon. "Oh, hey, Simon! When did you get here?"**

** "I could ask the same for you!" Simon panted, holding one hand over his heart. "Good gracious, Theo, when did you get here?"**

** "He's been with me all day," Alvin informed his partner. "When I see that Jessica took the bracelet and when I have proof, I can't just barge up and lock her away. I need a policeman, some sort of figure authority. And Theo here volunteered to help me!"**

** "I just left for a quick minute to get some snacks," Theodore added. "Stakeouts always make me hungry."**

** Simon peered around the side of the dumpster, looking on as Jessica Simpson, in all her glittery glory, chatted flirtatiously with that man she had been with at the ball, Ryan what's-his-name. His car was parked across the street, but his keys hung abandoned at his side as his greedy eyes feasted on Jessica's figure.**

** "Heh, heh," Alvin chuckled. "That poor sap. He's so into Miss Simpson that he doesn't even realize that the trunk of his car is wide open."**

** "Psst!"**

** Simon blinked. He thought that he'd heard someone.**

** "Psssst!" It came again, more urgently this time.**

** Alvin frowned. "What is that?" He pushed himself off the ground and hovered in a half-crouch, just barely peeping over the top of the Dumpster.**

** They saw two figures across the street, huddled together in a shop awning. Their eyes were fixed on the alley where the three boys were hiding.**

** "Who are they?" Alvin whispered, one eyebrow raised in confusion.**

** Simon squinted harder. Then he recognized them.**

** He snapped his fingers. "Jeanette!" he hissed. "Brittany's maid Jeanette."**

** "The one that you like?" Theodore chirped.**

** "I do not 'like' her," Simon snapped back, looking around the edge of the trash can and keeping his eye on the two figures. "And he's with Eleanor, the one that **_**you **_**like."**

** He expected Theodore to get just as defensive as he was, but the young police officer brightened. "Really?" he said excitedly. "Where is she? I don't see her."**

** Just then, they saw Eleanor move out from under the shop awning. She waited until Ryan and Jessica weren't looking before scuttling across the street and moving up the wall toward the alley.**

** She waited again, leaning against the brick building and looking casual, until their backs were turned. Then she darted silently into the alley. She was with the boys behind the dumpster in a matter of seconds.**

** "What are you doing here?" Theodore whispered, but his tone wasn't accusatory; on the contrary, it was delighted.**

** She smiled shyly. "Miss Miller sent us after you to make sure that everything went smoothly."**

** "She doesn't trust me?" Simon was indignant.**

** "No, she doesn't," Eleanor told him matter-of-factly.**

** Glowering, he turned away. "What's taking Jeanette so long?"**

** "She's nervous," Eleanor sighed in exasperation. "She'll be along in a minute."**

** They watched as Jeanette tottered uncertainly out from under the awning. She began to cross the street.**

** Ryan's head turned.**

** It didn't turn enough for him to see her, but it was enough to make her panic. She let out a little squeak of fear and lost her balance.**

** The side of her foot caught on his car, and she toppled backward…**

** …right into the open trunk!**

** They heard the dull thud, but Ryan and Jessica were too into their conversation to pay any attention to it.**

** "Oh, no!" Eleanor squeaked, horrified.**

** Jeanette struggled to get her bearings and get out of the car, but then she froze as they all heard Ryan say, "Well, I'd better get going."**

** Eleanor motioned frantically to Jeanette, but it was too late. Ryan was turning around and heading back to his car.**

** Panicked, Jeanette rolled deeper into the trunk, hiding behind a blanket and a leather bag that had been tossed in.**

** Ryan arrived at his car. Then he looked on in surprise. "Oop, the trunk's open," they heard him mutter.**

** They watched in horror as he slammed the trunk door shut.**

** "Oh, no!" Eleanor cried as Jessica moved on down the street and Ryan started his car. "Jeanette!"**

** "We've got to go after her!" Simon insisted, getting to his feet.**

** "We don't have a vehicle, Genius!" Alvin snapped.**

** Simon grabbed his keys, already racing toward the front of the alley. He hit a button.**

** To their astonishment, a sleek black car pulled up in front of the alley.**

** "How on earth did you do that?" Eleanor exclaimed, straightening her dress as she stared in astonishment.**

** "I tricked it out. Come on, get in before he drives away!" Simon threw the door open and slid in behind the wheel.**

** "I call shotgun!" Theodore raced eagerly to the car. Eleanor was right behind him.**

** Alvin stood his ground. "Wait! What about Jessica? She's getting away!"**

** "We can find her again later!" Simon called. "Hurry up, we have to help Jeanette!"**

** Alvin hesitated before diving into the backseat next to Eleanor and slamming the door shut behind him.**

** Simon twisted the keys fiercely in the ignition and stomped down on the gas pedal of the sleek black Cadillac, tearing through the streets at high speeds until Ryan's sedan was visible ahead of them. He slowed, putting some distance between the two cars but not letting the other one out of his sight.**

** He inched through the streets carefully, following Ryan. At first, it was easy to blend in with all the other cars on the street, but after awhile, the traffic began to lessen as Ryan drove onto more deserted streets. Soon, they were in the run-down area of town, and they were the only two cars on the street. Simon decreased the speed even more, thereby increasing the distance between them.**

** Finally, Ryan stopped at what appeared to be an old abandoned warehouse. He pulled the car into the garage.**

** Simon stopped his car, too, pulling it behind a nondescript house so that it wouldn't be seen from the warehouse.**

** "What in tarnation is he doing here?" Eleanor muttered, staring out through the windshield with speculative eyes.**

** Simon frowned. Now that he thought about it, it **_**was**_** a rather shady area of town.**

** Pieces of the puzzle began to fly together in his nimble brain, and his eyes narrowed.**

** "I think you'll be getting some of that suspicious activity after all, Alvin," he said under his breath as he exited the car as quietly as possible.**

** The others piled out, too. Together, they snuck up so that they were pressed up against the side of the warehouse, the opposite side of the garage.**

** They waited in breathless silence.**

** Then…**

_**"Hey!" **_**Alvin cried.**

_**"Shhhhhhhhhh!" **_**they all hissed, almost in synchronization.**

_**"Hey," **_**he repeated in an alarmed whisper, pointing through the window that he was looking in.**

** Frowning, the others joined him.**

** Simon's mouth dropped open.**

** Jewelry was piled up **_**everywhere. **_**The place was dripping with rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces, glittering with diamonds and rubies and emeralds. And in the midst of it all, resting on a cushion with a glass case covering it, was a very expensive-looking bracelet.**

** "There!" Alvin hissed, pointing at it. "That's Brittany's bracelet! It matches the fake that was at her party **_**exactly!"**_

**He sank to the ground, thunderstruck.**

** "So, Jessica Simpson **_**isn't **_**the thief," Simon said in a low, astonished whisper. "Ryan is!"**

** "Guys, we can bust him as soon as Jeanette is safely out of there!" Eleanor hissed, panicked.**

** "It's all right, Ellie," Theodore whispered to her, squeezing her hand and making her blush slightly. "We have the advantage, because he doesn't know that she's in the trunk. We just wait for him to go inside, and then we can sneak around to the garage and get her out. Then we can barge in and arrest him."**

** She relaxed slightly. "You're right," she murmured. "Of course you're right. He doesn't know that she's—,"**

** "Whoops," they all heard Ryan mutter to himself, still in the garage. "I almost forgot my bag."**

** Simon's eyes went wide with horror. There had been a leather bag in the back. Jeanette was currently hiding behind it.**

** He and Eleanor exchanged panicked looks, but before they could move a muscle, they heard the sound of the trunk being popped open.**

** They all froze simultaneously.**

** In the garage, Jeanette huddled in the trunk behind the blanket and the bag. She was frozen with terror.**

** Then, to her horror, the trunk opened. Light spilled in, and a hand reached for the bag.**

** Before she could do anything, it was whisked to the side, exposing her in full view.**

** Ryan stared down at her in shock. "What the—,"**

** Jeanette acted on instinct. She lunged toward the opening of the trunk and managed to get over the lip of it, knocking a shocked Ryan aside. She tumbled to the floor in an undignified heap.**

** Getting to her feet, she attempted to run for it.**

_**"HEY!" **_**she heard Ryan yell. "Get back here!"**

** She was almost at the exit when he overtook her, grabbing her arms and twisting them behind her in a viselike grip.**

** "Let me go!" she cried, fighting against him.**

** He slammed the trunk shut and clapped his free hand over her mouth. Abandoning the bag, he yanked her into the warehouse, slamming the door behind him.**

** He threw her roughly into the room, and she hit the floor in a heap.**

** Her eyes widened as she took in all the jewelry. "What the…"**

** Then she saw the bracelet.**

** She sat up. **_**"Hey!" **_**she yelled. "That's Brittany's bracelet! What are you doing with it?"**

** "Who the heck are you, and what were you doing in my trunk?" he snarled.**

** "I fell into your car by accident!" she cried, scooting away from him on the floor. "I didn't mean to—please don't hurt me—,"**

** "There's more to it than that," he insisted. "A normal person would have shouted. A normal person would have told me that they were in my trunk. For some reason, you didn't want to be found. Why is that, pray tell?"**

** She stumbled to her feet and backed away, terrified.**

** "I just—I didn't—what are you doing with Brittany's bracelet?" she repeated, her eyes wide and alarmed.**

** He glared at her fiercely. "That's none of your business," he spat.**

** He took another step forward, and his foot knocked into the leather bag that he had been carrying. It tipped over and opened, and its contents spilled out onto the floor.**

** Most of it was nondescript. A watch, a wallet…**

** …and another bracelet.**

** Jeanette stared at it in astonishment. It was Brittany's bracelet…again!**

** That was when she noticed the chip in the third bead from the clip.**

** Her eyes widened. It was the fake, the one that had been taken at the party!**

** She had watched that fake being made. The only noticeable difference between it and the real one was the chip in the bead.**

** Her head swiveled to stare accusingly at Ryan.**

_**"You?" **_**She was astonished. **_**"You're **_**the thief?"**

** He glared at her, and then smiled a nasty smile. "I guess you know my secret. Well, we can't have that."**

** He took a threatening step forward. "Come on, dearie. We're going to go on a little car ride."**

** She took another step back. "St-stay away from me!"**

** Then she hit a wall.**

** She was trapped.**

** Just then, the warehouse door burst open.**

_**"Get away from her!" **_**a very familiar voice yelled just before Ryan was knocked into from behind.**

** Eleanor quickly got off of Ryan, whom she had shoved to the floor.**

** "S-Simon?" Jeanette was thunderstruck.**

** He leaped over the fallen Ryan and grabbed her. "Come on! We have to get out of here!" he yelled.**

** "But—the—what—,"**

** Ignoring her stutters, he grabbed her around the waist and fairly dragged her to the door.**

** "Theo, arrest him!" Alvin cried.**

** "Uh…I forgot my policeman belt," Theodore said sheepishly. "I don't think I can…I don't have my badge or handcuffs or anything."**

** Then they heard two distinctive clicks. They all whirled to see Ryan pointing a gun at them.**

** "I don't suppose you brought your weapon along with you, either?" Alvin cringed, already knowing the answer.**

** "Nope," Theodore answered cheerfully. "Sorry about that—,"**

** BANG!**

** They all ducked, and the bullet shattered a window behind them.**

** "Get to the car, NOW!" Simon yelled at Eleanor. She grabbed Jeanette and Theodore and yanked them out the warehouse door.**

** "Alvin, come on!" Simon shouted.**

** "No! Wait! I've got to get the bracelet back!" Alvin said in a determined voice.**

** Simon's mouth dropped open. "Are you INSANE?" he shrieked. "He's got a loaded gun!"**

** Ryan fired again, just barely missing Simon.**

** Simon darted forward and yanked Alvin out the door. He shut and locked it behind him, slowing Ryan down momentarily.**

** He dragged Alvin to the car that they had parked behind the house. Eleanor had pulled Jeanette and Theodore into the backseat. Alvin jumped into the passenger's seat, and Simon flew behind the wheel.**

** "Everyone, get down underneath the seats! He's got a gun!" Simon yelled, hunching as close down to the wheel as was possible. He hit the gas pedal, and the car lurched forward.**

** As they sped down the road, Simon saw Ryan burst out of the warehouse in his rearview mirror. He lifted the gun and fired once, twice. He missed the first, but he nicked the side window with the second, and it shattered.**

** Eleanor and Jeanette screamed.**

** "Hang on!" Simon roared, stomping down on the gas pedal. The car leaped forward again, zipping down the road so fast that the scenery was a blur. Ryan fired again, but they were too far out of reach.**

** Simon drove frantically until he was back into the town limits. He dared to slow slightly and looked behind them.**

** "He didn't follow us," Simon said slowly. "I think it's okay to get up."**

** Alvin, Jeanette, Eleanor, and Theodore shakily climbed back into the seats.**

** "Is everyone okay?" Alvin called anxiously.**

** A chorus of "yes" rang through the car as Simon slowed to the city limits.**

** "Jeanette, did he hurt you?" Eleanor cried, patting her friend all over, feeling for broken bones.**

** "Ellie, I'm fine," Jeanette assured her. She let out a low, shaky breath. "Thanks, guys. You came just in time."**

** "We're just glad that you're all right," Simon answered, keeping his eyes on the road.**

** "I can't believe we went through all that without even getting the bracelet back," Alvin grumbled. "This detective business is so unrewarding."**

** Simon rolled his eyes. "Not entirely," he reminded Alvin. "We picked up on a lot of evidence. We know who took the jewelry, and we know where he is. Those are two big steps right there."**

** "I guess you're right," Alvin sighed. "At least there's that."**

** "This detective business is 'so unrewarding,' honestly," Eleanor muttered. "So much more deadly than I thought it would be' is more like it."**

"And that's it," Simon said, putting his manuscript down.

"DANG, this is getting good!" Alvin said excitedly. "Car chases, shootouts! This is awesome!"

Simon smirked at him.

"It's almost enough to make me forget that it was written by YOU," Alvin added to his brother.

Rolling his eyes, Simon couldn't help but grin. "That last part aside, thank you, Alvin. I think I'll take that as a compliment."


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, everyone!**

**I am so, so sorry! I know that it's been, like, months since I updated. School really hit me hard this year, and I've been scrambling to keep up with my hectic life, so I didn't have any time for writing. Things have calmed down a bit now, and I shall continue with the Case of the Missing Bracelet, because I do not give up on stories. I postpone them occasionally, but I do not give up.**

**Enjoy the next chapter!**

"Jeanette, go!" Eleanor was bouncing excitedly on the counter. "It's your turn!"

Smiling at Ellie's antics, Jeanette picked up where she had left off in her story.

* * *

"WOO-HOO!" Alvin skidded through the door, pumping a fist in the air. "We did it! We made it! We're alive!"

"And lucky to be!" Simon yelled, popping his brother's bubble as he stormed in after him.

Brittany hurried up to the two brothers. "Alvin? Simon? What's the matter?"

She paused, hesitant. "Er…and…why are you all covered in mud?"

"Because Alvin decided to be an idiot," Eleanor groaned, coming in after the two brothers with Theodore right on her heels.

"Hey!" Alvin protested.

She shot him a look that was half-annoyed, half-apologetic. "Sorry, bro. It's true."

"We're all okay now, though, and that's what's important," Jeanette called as she hurried through the door. Her hair had fallen out of its bun, and it was sprawled messily all over her head. It was also filled with sticks, leaves, and dirt.

"OH!" Brittany shrieked.

They all tensed. "What?" Simon yelled. "What is it?"

"Jeanette, your HAIR!" she wailed, dashing over to her sister.

Jeanette rolled her eyes as Brittany swiftly began to remove the debris piece by piece.

"What HAPPENED?" Brittany demanded, her eyes wide and horror-struck as she realized that the others were muddy and leafy, too.

"I'll tell you what happened," Simon growled. "Alvin decided to be an idiot, that's what happened!"

"I did not," Alvin interjected, his eyes narrowed.

Brittany raised an eyebrow. "Tell me exactly what happened," she insisted as she completely dismantled Jeanette's hair. "But could you tell me upstairs?"

She grabbed her sister and hauled her all the way to the bathroom.

"All right, get undressed," she instructed.

Jeanette blushed so furiously that it looked as though she'd dyed her fur red. _"Brittany!"_

"Oh, stop it," her sister snapped. "They've seen us without clothes on before. It's not a big deal."

"Turn around!" Jeanette hissed at the boys, who quickly obliged.

"All right, what happened?" Brittany asked, hopping up to the sink. She plugged the drain and turned on the hot water faucet, adding some bubble bath mix to it. The sink, the chipmunks' bathtub, began to fill.

"Well—," Alvin started.

_"I'll _tell what happened, thanks," Simon snapped at his brother.

"Jeanette, get in," Brittany instructed, turning the faucet off.

Her sister knew better than to argue. She climbed up onto the sink and slid into the hot, soapy water.

"All right, go ahead," Brittany said briskly as she began to completely dismantle her sister's hair.

After making sure that Jeanette's body was concealed with the bubbles, the boys turned around.

"Alvin, like the idiot he is, was following Jessica around all day," Simon growled as Brittany vigorously shampooed Jeanette's head, causing her sister to wince. "We caught up to him at the park, where Jessica and Ryan were having some sort of picnic. And then _somebody_," he said sarcastically, shooting his brother a fierce look as Jeanette ducked under the water to wash the shampoo out of her hair, "had the brilliant idea to _get in the picnic basket _to follow Jessica home."

"And you didn't, right?" Brittany asked warningly.

"Actually, we _did!" _Simon said in a fake-happy voice. "And guess who went running off before we could say a thing and stupidly climbed into the basket before we could do a thing about it, and guess who had to follow him?"

"I'm guessing Alvin," Brittany muttered as Jeanette resurfaced, her fur now clean. Brittany squirted some conditioner into her hand and began to lather her sister's hair in sharp jerks, causing Jeanette to wince.

"Yeah, we got in the picnic basket," Simon snapped as Jeanette was dunked under again. "And guess what? The picnic basket didn't _belong _to Jessica! It belonged to _Ryan!"_

"Well," Jeanette gasped, spluttering as she resurfaced, "to be fair, not a lot of guys are secure enough in their manliness to even _have _a picnic basket, let alone use it. It was an honest mista—,"

Her words were cut off as Brittany pushed her under again. She paused, and then pulled her sister back up. Jeanette coughed fiercely as her sister pulled the plug on the sink and hauled Jeanette out of it. Brittany wrapped her in a towel, and they both hopped to the floor again as the water drained out of the sink.

"Please, continue," Brittany said sweetly, switching on the hair drier and aiming it at poor Jeanette, who had to grab onto the side of the towel rack to keep from being blown away. After a few quick seconds, Brittany turned the drier off. Jeanette was so tiny that she had been completely dried off.

Brittany pulled her over and began to brush Jeanette's fur in quick, smooth strokes.

"Well, the picnic basket did belong to Ryan, so we got taken to _his _house instead," Simon continued, glowering at his brother. "Then, when we were trying to find a way out of there, Alvin decided to be stupid AGAIN and go down a dark, abandoned hallway, and dragged Theo with him—,"

"Excuse me," Alvin interrupted. "But Theo followed _me, _thank you very much."

Simon shot him a dark glare. "Fine. Whatever. So they went down a dark abandoned hallway, and it turns out that Ryan's room was at the end of it."

"Britt, you should have seen it!" Alvin interjected, his eyes wide. "There was jewelry EVERYWHERE! You weren't the only one that he stole from."

"Wait just a minute," Brittany interrupted. She turned to Jeanette, holding out a bundle of clothes. "Put these on," she instructed her sister, and then turned back to Alvin, her hands on her hips. "You mean to tell me that _Ryan _was the one that took my bracelet? Not Jessica?"

"Yeah!" Alvin said excitedly. "We found it right in the middle of all the other jewelry!"

Brittany let out a squeal, clapping her hands together. "Yes! That's wonderful! And you got it back?"

Alvin fidgeted. "Er…well…not exactly."

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, _'not exactly?'"_

He sighed. "Look, I tried, I really did! But…it just…"

Jeanette stepped out cautiously. She was now wearing a ruffled turquoise shirt with a flowery belt, black leggings, and silver ballet flats.

Brittany grabbed her again and dragged her over to a stool. She pushed her sister down on it and began to weave strands of Jeanette's hair together. "Tell me what happened," she demanded, glaring at Alvin.

"Take it away, Si," he squeaked.

Simon sighed. "That was when Jeanette, Ellie, and I realized that they were missing. We followed them and caught up to them just as Ryan found us. He was going for Alvin, but Jeanette got in the way and saved his sorry tail, and Ryan grabbed HER instead. Ellie jumped on him—,"

"Wow, El, way to go!" Brittany exclaimed, clearly impressed.

"—and he dropped Jeanette—,"

"WHAT?" she shouted, dropping her sister's hair.

"I caught her, I caught her!" Simon rushed to assure the frantic Brittany, who, glowering, began to style Jeanette's hair again. "Anyway, he dropped her, _I caught her,_" he hastily added at Brittany's dangerous look, "and she, Ellie, and Theo high-tailed it out of there. Alvin kept being an idiot and going after the bracelet, but I got his sorry tail out of there, too. Then he found a cat flap, and we all climbed up a tree. When we thought Ryan was gone, we got down and began to head home, but it turns out that he was driving around the neighborhood in his car looking for us. When he saw ALVIN jumping on a parking meter because he thought it was 'broken,' he began to chase us. We had to cut through the park a few times and go into the woods to get away from him. Then ALVIN claimed he knew where he was going, but he wound up getting us all hopelessly lost, and we wandered around the woods for HOURS before finally making our way back here—that's why we're all dirty and muddy," he added.

"Well, Jeanette certainly isn't anymore!" Brittany exclaimed triumphantly, finishing off the French braid in her sister's hair with an elastic on the end and displaying her freshly scrubbed, cleaned, conditioned, dried, groomed, dressed, and styled sister.

"That's true," Jeanette said grumpily. "Are you done with me now?"

"Yep," Brittany chirped, letting go of her sister and beaming cheerfully. "Well, I'm certainly glad that you all got back safely."

"I'm so, so sorry, Britt," Alvin said sincerely. "I tried valiantly to get your bracelet back, but my bonehead brother stopped me. I wish I could have done something about it."

Brittany giggled, blushing and looking down. "Well, I think it was a job well done anyway," she said shyly. "You sounded like you were _magnificent."_

"Excuse me?" Simon was indignant. "Did you not hear a word I just said?"

Brittany was still giggling and staring into Alvin's eyes.

Simon threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "I give up," he snapped. "You're welcome, by the way, for keeping your pet jock safe." Before they could respond, he stomped out of the bathroom to go change his clothes.

"Well, at least I'm clean…but I'm still glad that's over," Jeanette sighed, adjusting her new clothes and picking up her old dirty ones to put in the laundry.

"Better you than me," a cheerful Eleanor agreed.

But she froze when she heard Brittany call to her, "Eleanor, you're next!"

* * *

"All right, guys!" Alvin exclaimed, pacing back and forth in front of Simon and Theodore later that night. "We know where Brittany's bracelet is, and we know who took it! Are we going to stand for this? NO! Are we going to let Ryan get away with it? NO! Are we going to sneak out tonight and go to Ryan's house to get her bracelet back?"

"That would be another NO," a stern voice said from the doorway.

They whirled guiltily around to see Dave standing in the doorway with his eyebrows raised.

"Uh…hi, Dave," Alvin squeaked. "How much of that pep talk did you hear?"

"I didn't hear anything but the fact that you were planning on sneaking out tonight, and the answer is NO, you may not," he said just as the girls scampered in. A grumpy Eleanor had her fur washed, conditioned, and brushed, new clean clothes that were somewhat more fashionable than her other ones, and freshly styled hair just like Jeanette. It was clear that Brittany had just finished with her.

"You can go and see your friend Ryan tomorrow," Dave continued. "Claire and I are having a nice dinner tonight, and you all are staying home."

"But Ryan isn't our friend," Theodore protested. "We want to go over because he sto—OOMPH!"

Alvin had just thrown his elbow into his brother's gut. He blinked innocently up at Dave.

Dave regarded them with a suspicious look for a moment. "You heard that, right, girls? You're not to leave the house tonight at all."

"All right, Dave," they answered glumly.

Dave left the room.

"What was that for?" Theodore snapped almost immediately.

"We don't want Dave to know that Ryan stole the bracelet, or else it'll get to the police and all the grown-ups will be involved!" Alvin snapped. "I don't want any adults stealing my glory! Brittany will never go out with me if DAVE is the one to save her bracelet!"

"Well, I hope you're not plotting anything," Simon snapped. "You heard Dave. No funny business!"

He gave them all the evil eye before stomping out of the room. After a slight hesitation, Jeanette followed.

"So…we aren't going to do anything, right?" Theodore asked nervously, turning to Alvin.

Alvin gave his brother a rather evil look. "Oh, Theodore, you novice."

Brittany grinned. "Excellent! My bracelet is within our reach!"

Eleanor raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Um, one flaw in your big master plan. HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE AND SAVE IT WITHOUT—,"

"WOULD YOU KEEP IT DOWN?" Alvin bellowed as if they were on opposite sides of the country.

"Oh, you're one to talk," she grumbled.

"BOTH OF YOU, KNOCK IT OFF!" Theodore screamed.

"WHAT IS WITH ALL THE YELLING?" Simon roared, poking his head back into the room.

There was an awkward silence.

Alvin decided to go with Old Reliable. "Uh…nothing?"

Simon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You guys are so weird sometimes." He stomped back out of the room and upstairs.

Alvin turned to Eleanor with yet another sinister smile. "Oh, Ellie, of course there's a plan. There's always a plan."

"Well, goodbye, Dave!" Alvin called cheerfully, waving a paw innocently at his guardian figure as he left.

As soon as the door shut behind the tuxedo-clad Dave and Claire, his date, Alvin whirled around, rubbing his hands together mischievously.

"All right, it's time to come up with a plan," he muttered anxiously.

"MY EARRINGS!"

Theodore and Alvin jumped at Eleanor's distressed cry. They both darted up the stairs as fast as they could.

"What's this about earrings?" Alvin questioned.

Eleanor was nearly hysterical. "My earrings are missing!" she wailed. "I had them yesterday, and now they're GONE!"

"AHA!" Alvin shouted. "Ryan again, I expect!"

"And we'll deal with him LATER, as in NOT TONIGHT, correct?" Simon glared over his book at Alvin.

"Of course, Si," Alvin responded, chuckling nervously. "Why would we attempt anything TONIGHT of all nights?"

Simon shot him a suspicious look before returning to his book.

And it was then that Alvin came up with a plan.

He grabbed Theodore by the arm and yanked him into the bathroom.

"I've GOT it! The CAR!" he cried excitedly, slamming the door shut behind him.

Theodore blinked. "Pardon?" he said at last, puzzled.

Alvin was nearly jumping up and down with excitement. "The remote control car that Dave got me for my birthday!" he cried. "You and I can take that to Ryan's house, bust him, get the jewelry back, and apprehend the criminal!"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Theodore interjected. "WE? Who is this WE that you are referring to?"

Alvin groaned. "Oh, come ON, Theo, you're starting to sound like Simon!" he complained. "Nothing bad is going to happen! Since when do you chicken out when there's a chance at adventure?"

Theodore frowned. "When Dave specifically told us that we shouldn't go, and that we'd be in big trouble if we did!"

Alvin tried his last resort. "Theodore, think of ELLIE!"

That stopped his little brother right in his tracks.

"Her earrings are missing, right?" Alvin asked urgently. "She REALLY loves those earrings. I see her wearing them almost every single day. If you got them back for her, she would think that you were a HERO! She might even go out with you!"

A fresh sparkle lit Theodore's bright green eyes. His fists clenched and his teeth gritted in determination.

"Let's do this," the little chipmunk hissed.

_"All right, here's the plan," Alvin whispered to the four huddled in the bathroom. "Jeanette and Simon CANNOT KNOW about Operation Jewel-Thief-Bustage—,"_

_ "I still think we need a new name for the operation," Brittany interjected, her arms crossed in annoyance._

_ Alvin waved a hand impatiently in her direction. "The name of the mission isn't important, Britt! We just have to focus here, all right?"_

_ She pouted, but remained silent this time._

_ "Okay. Simon would never go along with it, and Jeanette will likely take his side rather than oppose him. The first order of business will fall to Brittany. She has to keep the two older kids occupied so that they don't know that we've gotten out of here."_

Alvin's instructions ringing in her ears, Brittany tiptoed down the hallway. She took a deep breath before poking her head into Jeanette's room.

"Hey, Jeanette!" she chirped, trying not to sound guilty or overenthusiastic. "Wanna play a game?"

Jeanette nodded, putting her book down on the bed. "Sure, Britt! What do you want to play?"

Brittany flashed her sister a big smile. "I don't know! Anything! Why don't you pick this time?"

Jeanette brightened considerably. "All right! How about backgammon?"

Inwardly, Brittany cringed fiercely, but she kept the smile plastered on her face. "Sounds great!" she said cheerfully. "I think that one's in the closet. Want to go and get it?"

Jeanette obliged, putting her book down and heading down the hall with her sister.

The closet door was already open a crack. Jeanette opened it further and peeked in.

"I don't think it's in here, Britt," Jeanette called back.

"Oh, it is!" Brittany insisted. "I saw it just the other day! I think it's in that shadowy part in the back—why don't you get a closer look?"

"Well, all right…" Jeanette stepped into the closet fully, heading to the back.

Waiting until her sister's back was turned, Brittany firmly bumped the closet door with her hip. It shut with a THUD.

In an instant, Jeanette was hammering on the outside of the door. "HEY! Britt, the door shut!"

"Oh!" Brittany cried, feigning anxiety. "Oh, my gosh, I bumped it by mistake! Hang on, hang on, I'll get it open!"

She pretended to struggle for a moment before saying, "I can't reach the knob! Let me go get Simon!"

She scampered off, silently giggling to herself.

Composing herself before she went into Simon's room, she hurried in.

"Simon, I need your help!" she cried. "My hairspray is on the top shelf in the bathroom, and I can't get to it!"

He heaved a sigh of great annoyance, as if she had asked him to work overtime on Christmas.

"All right, fine," he grumbled. "I'm coming."

They went to the bathroom, and he stepped in.

"Which shelf?" he called in a longsuffering voice.

"That one at the very top," Brittany called back cheerfully.

SLAM! When his back was turned, the door shut on him as well.

"Oh!" Brittany squealed. "Oh, Simon, I'm really sorry! I hit the door by accident—hang on, I'll try to get you out of there!"

She pretended to make an attempt.

"Oh, it's no use! I can't reach the knob!" she called, distressed. "Hang on! I'll try to find Jeanette!"

She dashed off, grinning madly to herself.

Her part of the mission was accomplished.

_"I can do that," Brittany said with a firm nod._

_ "Excellent," Alvin nodded. "While you're doing that, Theodore and I will get down the stairs and ready the car. Eleanor, you're going to be our Mission Control. Your first job is to find Jeanette's cell phone. You can use that one. Brittany, Theo, and I will use Britt's."_

Eleanor felt almost dirty about what she was doing, but she knew that if they had any hope of getting the bracelet back, some snooping was going to be required.

She snuck into the girls' room on tiptoe. After carefully hunting around in the closet, on top of the dresser, and in the filing cabinet, Eleanor finally discovered a dusty box that was underneath the bed. She pulled it out and opened it.

Bingo.

All of Jeanette's most secret, most private things were in the box. There were photo albums, magazine covers, and even her diary. Eleanor was careful not to look at anything that she didn't have to—she still wanted to respect her older sister's privacy to SOME extent—but she had to look at quite a few magazine clippings with pictures of Simon on them and red hearts drawn around him before she finally found Jeanette's chipmunk-sized SmartPhone. She pulled it out, made sure that Brittany's cell phone was in the contacts list, replaced the pictures (after making a "gross" face), and put the box back where it had been.

She scampered out of the room.

Her part of the mission was accomplished.

_"Theodore, Britt, and I will go to Ryan's house in the remote-controlled car—I have the remote, Eleanor, don't give me that look—while Eleanor remains here. We'll give her updates through text about our progress. At the right time, she'll contact the principal and Ryan's parents and have them drive to his house so that he'll get busted."_

_ "The principal?" Brittany frowned. "Why the principal?"_

_ "Because," Alvin said impatiently, "we're trying to get Ryan in trouble, aren't we? Calling the POLICE is a little drastic for a childish prank like this, but the principal said at the assembly that she was on the lookout for the person who was stealing all the girls' jewelry. He'll probably be suspended, or maybe even expelled!" Alvin cackled evilly. "And who better to get him in trouble than his own parents?"_

_ "There was an assembly?" Theodore muttered to Eleanor under his breath._

_ "You were in the Home Ec. Room trying to salvage your burnt lasagna," she explained back in a whisper._

_ "I didn't know that the oven was set too high!" he said defensively. "My lasagna is usually fantastic."_

_ "Anyway, we'll barge in and bust Ryan, and hopefully his parents and the principal will arrive at the crucial time and be there to witness the whole thing. We'll get the jewelry back, Ryan will get in trouble, and then Brittany—,"_

_ "Brittany what?" Brittany asked suspiciously, looking over at him._

_ "Er—Brittany—will—," Alvin fumbled around for an excuse not to tell her his Girlfriend plan. "Will finally get her bracelet back!" he said quickly. "Brittany will finally get her bracelet back."_

_ "Nice save," Theodore muttered under his breath._

_ "Shut it, Theo," Alvin hissed back._

"Okay, are we all ready?" Eleanor exclaimed, darting into the boys' room. Then she frowned. "Wait, where's Brittany?"

"There's been a change in plans," Theodore said breathlessly. "Simon was about to get out of the bathroom, so she went to stall him longer."

"Theo and I are leaving now in the remote control car," Alvin called from the window. He was holding the control in his hands, fiddling with the steering stick and squinting out through the glass. "I'm steering it to the sidewalk right now. Once Simon's been subdued, Brittany will come down and join us."

"What about me?" Eleanor asked.

"You're still Mission Control," Alvin told her. "You have to remain here and make the calls, and also make sure that Simon and Jeanette don't get out."

"Guys, I'm not so sure about this!" Eleanor cried nervously. "Why can't we just wait until a different night instead of all this sneaking around? Or tell Dave or Claire or someone else?"

"No way!" Theodore said fiercely. "Ellie, we _can't _back out now. Not when we're so close! We've already planned this all out. Come on, don't you want your earrings back?"

Eleanor bit her lip. "I guess so…" she said nervously. "Yes. Yes, I really, really want them back. But still…"

"Well, the remote control car is at the sidewalk," Alvin called. "If we're backing out, then we have to do it now."

"Well, I suppose if Ellie isn't comfortable with it—," Theodore began.

"Heck, no!" Alvin interrupted. "We're not backing out now! I just said that to be polite! Ellie, how many phones do you have?"

"Well, I've got mine and Britt's," she said uncertainly, "and here's Jeanette's." She tossed it to him.

He caught it. "Great. We'll text you. Come on, Theo, let's go!"

He grabbed his brother and they both scampered out of the room.

Upstairs in the closet, a loud banging noise could be heard.

"Brittany?" Jeanette called desperately. "Britt, are you still out there? Where's Simon?"

There was no answer. Brittany was, at the moment, tying a complicated lock system to the bathroom door so that Simon wouldn't be able to get it open.

"Brittany, you know I'm afraid of the dark!" Jeanette whimpered. "That's not funny! Let me out!"

Still no reply.

"BRITT!" she screamed, pounding on the door.

It swung open.

She blinked as light streamed into the closet.

"The latch must not have caught all the way!" she said to herself. "BRITTANY!"

There was no sign of her sister upstairs, so she scampered down. To her surprise, the door was open.

Back upstairs and leaving their room, Theodore and Alvin scampered along down the hallway. Theodore had Jeanette's phone in his sweater pocket, and Alvin clutched the remote control in his paw as they ran.

"I'm not so sure about this," Theodore gasped to Alvin.

Alvin stopped and seized his brother's shoulders. "Ellie, Theodore! Think about Ellie! Do it for Ellie!"

Slowly, the uncertainty faded from Theodore's eyes, replaced by a steely determination.

"All right," he said firmly. "Let's do it!"

They scampered down the stairs and headed for the door…

…only to stop dead.

"Jeanette!" Alvin squeaked.

She whirled around and saw them. "Guys! What are you doing? Have you seen Simon anywhere, because I can't…"

Her voice died as she took in their appearance. They had on dark black sweaters and hats.

Her violet eyes narrowed in suspicion behind her glasses. "What are you doing?"

"Er—ninja training!" Alvin said quickly. "We were just practicing…"

The glare that she gave them told them that she wasn't buying it.

"I don't think so," she said slowly. "You're sneaking out, aren't you? After Dave told us not to! Where's Simon?"

"Simon isn't coming, Jeanette," Alvin snapped at her.

Her eyes widened. "What did you do to him?" she cried.

"Oh, he's fine," Theodore said impatiently. "He's in the bathroom! Now get out of the way!"

Determination took over Jeanette's expression. She stepped between them and the open door.

"No," she said, slowly and deliberately.

Theodore's eyes narrowed. _"What?" _he asked in a dangerous tone.

There was a flicker of fear in her eyes, but she stood her ground. "N-no!" she repeated, her voice squeaking slightly. "You heard me! I'm not letting you go out there!"

"Aw, Jeanette, come _on!" _Alvin shouted. "You're really going to choose NOW to grow a backbone? Move!"

"No!" she shouted back at them. "Dave said not to—,"

Theodore wasn't listening. He was thinking furiously.

They had to find some way to evade her. But even if they managed to duck around her, she would still know. She would find Simon and let him out, and the mission would be compromised.

There was only one thing to do.

Theodore's eyes narrowed. He was a 'munk on a mission, and he was not going to let anything get in the way of impressing Eleanor.

Crouching down, he sprang off the floor. Remembering the gymnastics that Eleanor had tried to teach him, he soared through the air, reaching down to nab the controller out of Alvin's paws, and flipped right _over _Jeanette's arm.

He landed in a crouch on the other side.

Without hesitating, he yelled over his shoulder to Alvin, _"GRAB HER!"_

"Wait, _what?" _Jeanette cried.

Then she let out a shriek as Alvin grabbed her around the waist with both arms and yanked her off of her feet. He turned and dashed after Theodore, carrying Jeanette almost effortlessly.

"You can't do this!" she yelled. "Put me down! Simon! SIMON!"

He dragged her out the door and slammed it behind him.

"Hurry up!" Theodore bellowed from the curb. Alvin ran down the driveway, Jeanette kicking and screaming the whole way.

Upstairs, Eleanor heard a commotion. Frowning, she dashed to the window and peered out.

Before she could make out what was happening, she got a text on her phone. She lifted it up. It was from Theodore.

_Problem, _it read. _jeanette got free. had 2 take her w/ us. tell britt 2 get downstairs w/ her phone and take the bike and we'll meet her at ryans_

_**What?! **_Eleanor texted back, frantic.

Then Brittany burst into the room.

"That should hold Simon," she said breathlessly. "Where are the boys?"

"There's been a change of plans," Eleanor told her urgently. "Jeanette got out somehow, and they had to take her with them."

"What?" Brittany shouted.

"I don't know the details; I just got the text from Theodore!" Eleanor yelled. "Just get down there. There isn't any room in the car, so you have to take the motorcycle. Here's your phone. I've got mine, and they've got Jeanette's. Just go ahead of them, and they'll meet you there."

Brittany nodded, looking paler than normal and very worried as she caught the phone. She turned and scampered out of the room.

She ran all the way down the stairs and into the garage, where she found the toy motorcycle and her shiny pink helmet. She remembered all too well jumping from Ian's limo onto the bicycle, and how Alvin had saved her and her sisters riding on it.

She yanked on her helmet and climbed onto the bike, immensely grateful that Alvin had taught her how to drive it the instant the girls had moved in.

She jumped it over the cement step and out of the garage. She zipped down the driveway and onto the sidewalk. Behind her, the door opened. She heard Theodore and Jeanette shouting and saw three dark figures moving down the driveway, but she didn't have time to stop and see what was going on. With a quick wave to Alvin, she shoved her phone into her pocket and took off, passing the remote controlled car and speeding off down the sidewalk.

* * *

Simon hammered on the bathroom door. "Brittany, I don't know WHAT is going on, but you had better open this door right no—,"

Before he could finish, he heard a terribly familiar and muffled voice from downstairs.

He dashed over to the vent and put his ear to it, the vent that was connected to the one by the door downstairs.

He heard Jeanette's frantic voice. "…put me down! Simon! SIMON!"

Then there was the sound of a door slamming.

"Jeanette!" he yelled. _"Jeanette!"_

There was no answer.

His fists clenched almost involuntarily.

He grabbed the side of the sink and began to climb up, inch by inch. When he finally got to the top, he planted his paws firmly.

He got on one end of the toothpaste. Then, with considerable effort, he managed to lift the extremely heavy bottle of soap.

With a grunt, he threw it as high in the air as he could.

"I'm coming, Jeanette!" he shouted.

The soap slammed into the other end of the toothpaste, and it sent him flying. He soared all the way across the room.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed.

He slammed into the doorknob so hard that it knocked the wind out of him, but he managed to wrap his arms around it so that he didn't fall. He hung there for a moment, caught his breath, and twisted the doorknob.

The door opened, and he fell to the ground, landing on the plushy foot rug.

He scrambled to his feet, unhurt, as he heard the latch click. He shoved against the door with all his might, and it swung open.

He could hear muffled cries and yells from the driveway outside.

"Jeanette!" he yelled again. "Hang on! I'm coming! Jeanette!"

He scrambled down the stairs, but he lost his footing. Bonking and slamming his way down each stair, he landed on the hard wood floor at the bottom of the stairs with the wind knocked out of him.

After he managed to catch his breath, he got to his feet and ran to the door, but it was too late. He saw a remote controlled car speeding off into the night.

Simon gritted his teeth.

_Alvin._

_ But where is he taking her?_

Simon, who hadn't heard any of the plans for going to Ryan's house, had no idea where they had gone.

_Brittany! She put me in the bathroom on PURPOSE!_

Then he thought he heard someone talking upstairs.

_Someone is still in the house!_

Simon darted up the stairs and approached the end of the hall.

He pushed the door open.

* * *

Eleanor nervously watched her sister dash out of the room.

Peering out the window, she watched dark shapes on the sidewalk. Alvin appeared to be dragging Jeanette down the driveway, who was fighting tooth and nail to get away from him. Theodore was on the curb next to the remote controlled car. A second later, Eleanor saw Brittany roar out of the garage on the motorcycle. She hopped onto the sidewalk and zipped out of sight.

Without wasting a second, Eleanor picked up her phone and dialed Jeanette's number. Theodore picked up quickly.

"Hello?" she heard him squeak.

"Theo!" she snapped without preamble. "What the heck is going on? Where's my sister?"

"Oh, she just left on the motorcycle—,"

"MY OTHER SISTER!" Eleanor barked. "Jeanette!"

"Well—er—we had to take her with us," Theodore said nervously.

"WHAT?"

"We didn't have a choice, Ellie!" he defended himself. "She got out of the closet somehow and she was blocking our way, threatening to tell Dave. If we'd left her here, she would have gotten Simon out and ruined the entire operation!"

Eleanor tried desperately to find an argument, but she couldn't come up with anything. Finally, she sighed.

"You had better take really good care of her!" she insisted. "You let her get hurt, and I will be EXTREMELY upset, do you understand me, Theodore Seville?"

"Alvin's got her," Theodore insisted. "He won't let anything happen to her, I promise."

"Right, because THAT makes me feel so much better," Eleanor muttered, then spoke louder. "All right, all right. Just…take care of yourselves out there, all right? ALL of you."

"Thanks, Ellie." Theodore sounded relieved. "We'll text you when you have to call the principal and Ryan's parents."

"Will do," she answered. "Hurry, okay?"

"Okay. Bye."

Eleanor hung up. She peered out through the dark window again and saw the blurry figures on the sidewalk through the glass. Theodore hopped into the car, clutching the remote tightly. She watched Alvin force Jeanette into the car and then get in himself, slamming the door behind them.

The car roared off down the sidewalk, and then they were gone.

"Be careful," Eleanor whispered after them into the rapidly darkening night.

Then someone cleared their throat from behind her.

She whirled around, her green eyes wide and alarmed.

There, standing in the doorway, was—

"S-Simon!" she squeaked. "I—there you are! I've been looking for you…"

Her voice trailed off. His narrowed, icy blue eyes clearly told her that he didn't believe a word of it.

"Have you really?" he said quietly.

Eleanor didn't respond, pressed up against the window. She managed to subtly drop her phone into her pocket.

"You seem awfully concerned, Eleanor," he said in a low voice. "What's the matter? And why are you talking out the window?" He glared at her. "Is someone OUT there, by any chance?"

"I—I don't know what you're talking about," Eleanor squeaked.

Simon took a step forward, then another. Eleanor sidled along the wall, away from him.

Then she hit another wall.

She looked desperately around as Simon advanced, but there was nothing to be done, nowhere to go. She was, literally and metaphorically, trapped in a corner.

"All right, Eleanor," Simon said slowly. "If you're so innocent, then where's Jeanette?"

Eleanor gulped.

"Where are any of them, for that matter?" he continued. "Britt? My brothers? Have any elaborate cover story for them?"

"I—,"

"The game's up, Eleanor," Simon snapped. "I know that you four are up to something. WHAT IS IT?"

"I'll never rat them out!" Eleanor exploded, her green eyes narrowing defensively as determination took over. "Not in a million years! Not in a BILLION years!"

Simon looked slightly surprised at first, but he quickly recovered. "All right, then," he growled, stepping forward again. "It looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way."


End file.
